


The Non-Companion

by Love_of_fandoms



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Adventure, Aliens, Enemies to Lovers, Episode: s12e01-02 Spyfall, Episode: s12e02 Spyfall Part 2, Episode: s12e03 Orphan 55, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Gallifrey, Grief/Mourning, Identity Reveal, Movie Night, Romance, Secret Identity, Teaching the Master how to Human, The Master and Doctor are friends, Time Travel, ish, lol, not really - Freeform, they text
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:40:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 31,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25601473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Love_of_fandoms/pseuds/Love_of_fandoms
Summary: Jo, a sometimes tag along on the Doctor's adventures, finally meets the Master when the Doctor picks her up for a trip to the Australian Outback...
Relationships: The Master (Dhawan)/Original Character(s), The Master (Dhawan)/Original Female Character(s), The Master (Dhawan)/Reader, The Master/Original Character(s), The Master/Original Female Character(s), The Master/Reader
Comments: 25
Kudos: 68





	1. Chapter 1

“So you need me to… decode a fish?” Jo repeated, holding up a small pen as the people surrounding her in the boutique stared at her and her odd rectangular device she was speaking to.

“Well… yeah,” the Doctor sounded like she had more to say, but Jo figured it was better said in person.

“My flat, 10, maybe 15 minutes, I’ve got memories to wipe,” Jo said, hanging up as she heard the ‘you’ve got wh-’. She turned to the people in the boutique who were still all staring at her, gasping as she put the phone away in her pocket and held up the pen.

“What does that thing do?” a young man asked the store clerk next to him, but the boy shrugged his shoulders.

“It could just be a normal pen,” he offered in a hissed whisper.

“After that weird device that spoke? And what about memories?” At that, Jo let out a shout of a random noise, causing everyone’s heads to spin and look at her. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and pushed the button, opening them to see everyone in a trance.

“You will carry on through your day with no memory of this event, everything is normal,” she pronounced, hearing mumbled repetitions before she nodded and hurried out the boutique before people began to regain their whits.

“Watch it, toots!” a man shouted at her as she bumped into him, and Jo tugged her hat down over her face as she nodded.

“Sorry, sir!” she called over her shoulder as she rushed to her flat.

“Did you hear?” she heard a woman gasp to another as they sat on a bench next to a small newspaper cart. “Harding just died of a heart attack!”

“Who’s his vice president again? You know I don’t like politics,” Jo paused at a distance to listen to the conversation and buy a newspaper, knowing she had a little time to get to her flat.

“You really should, Martha,” the first woman sighed. “We can vote now!” she sounded so excited, and Jo smiled to herself as she handed over the nickel for her paper. The man went to give her pennies back but she giggled, shaking her head and walking away.

As she entered her flat a couple of minutes later, she heard voices.

“So who’s this friend, doc?” a man asked, Jo assumed it was Graham, one of the Doctor’s companions, that voice wouldn’t belong to Ryan.

“Oh, Jo!” that was the Doctor’s voice. “She’s very smart, very into spy stuff,”

“And how’s she gonna know about Stegano-whatever if she’s from the 1920’s, ey?”

“This is actually just when I live right now,” Jo said, dropping her shopping bag on the floor next to her coat rack. Graham jumped, while the Doctor turned with a beaming smile.

“Jo!” she shouted in excitement, racing over to throw her arms around the shorter woman. Jo smiled, hugging the Doctor tightly back.

“Bout time you called,” Jo mumbled into her shoulder, and the Doctor hummed in agreement. Graham cleared his throat.

“So…?” he prompted, and the Doctor pulled away from Jo with a nod, grabbing her hand and pulling her into the TARDIS, which had materialized next to Jo’s poor excuse of a dining room table. It’s not like she did much entertaining in the flat, anyways.

“Right! Big crisis to solve! Come along!” the Doctor babbled as Joe was pulled up the ramp. She stumbled a bit as she was let go, and peered at the screen they had stopped in front of.

“The TARDIS could’ve easily done this,” Jo muttered, and the Doctor nodded as the TARDIS hummed around them.

“She did, I just wanted you to come along,”

“And you couldn’t ask like a normal person?” Graham scoffed.

“The doc? Normal? You having a laugh?” he chuckled a bit, and Jo shot him a smile, rolling her eyes.

“I suppose you’re right,” she shrugged. “So are we off to Australia?”

“How did you know about Australia?”

“She read the picture, Graham,” the Doctor answered for Jo. “Told you, very smart,” Jo scoffed, holding herself back from saying she was just very  _ old _ .

Jo smiled as the TARDIS began to wheeze, the telltale sign that they were travelling through the vortex. It was always a comfort to be back in the TARDIS, with the Doctor again. Jo usually didn’t stay with the Doctor for multiple adventures in one go, but was more of an occasional tag along companion.

“Welcome to the Outback!” the Doctor grinned as she swung open the door, revealing a dark skinned man with a light stubble on his face, wearing all beige. He was flanked by two official looking people, who Jo assumed were agents.

“I see you decoded the fish!” the dark skinned man called with a grin. “Fancy a cuppa?” the Doctor beamed back as Jo made a face at the word  _ cuppa _ . She would never get used to British slang. She could of course understand it at this point, but it was still odd to her.

“Very much!” she confirmed, stepping out of the TARDIS with Jo and Graham closely following. “These are my friends, Graham and Jo,” she introduced, both people giving him a little wave. The man stepped up them shaking Graham’s hand first.

“O,” he said, and Graham leaned forward, as if he hadn’t heard them.

“Sorry, you’re…?” he asked, and the man smirked a bit.

“O,”

“O?”

“O,”

“Oh,” Graham’s brows furrowed, and Jo giggled, thrusting her hand out.

“I still don’t get why spies use letter names,” she said as she shook his hand, and he shrugged.

“Not a spy,” he said, as if it were instinct. “I was an analyst,” Jo raised her eyebrows in antagonizing disbelief.

“With a spy name,” O opened his mouth as if to argue, but thought better of arguing and instead allowed another smile to appear on his face. It was rather charming.

“It was a joke by the others at MI6. Whenever I came into a room to meet C, he'd go: Oh. God!” he exaggerated, rolling his eyes and dramatically slumping his shoulders backwards. Jo giggled. “It sort of stuck, and now I’ve owned it,” he turned to the official looking agents flanking him. “This is Seesay and Browning. Just arrived, Australian Secret Service,” Seesay stepped forward a bit.

“We’ll be out here for the whole of your visit,” he explained. “We’re under orders to keep you safe,”

“Safe from what?” Graham asked, brows pinching, and after a moment of silence, Browning shrugged.

“Not sure,” Jo smiled.

“I’m sure your contributions to our protection will be very helpful indeed then,” she snarked, and O muffled a chuckle behind his hand. The Doctor nodded, turning to O.

“Mind if I take a nose around your gaff?” she asked to which O nodded, leading her up the porch steps and into his house.

“Can you translate that for me?” Jo asked, leaning over and whispering to O. He chuckled, glancing down at her.

“She asked if she could look around my house,” he answered her, and she nodded.

“Ah,” she muttered. “That makes sense, thank you,” O just smiled and shook his head at her.

As they entered the flat, the Doctor and Graham immediately got to exploring while O wandered to his kitchenette area to make tea. Jo followed him, figuring it would end up being easier to just ask him where he kept the information they were obviously looking for. Plus, he seemed to be good company.

“Cosy,” the Doctor commented as she poked around, and O scoffed.

“You mean messy,” he corrected, and Jo hummed in agreement, to which he shot her a faux hurt look.

“She did mean messy, obviously didn’t realize you were this much of a hoarder,” she said before the Doctor could, and Graham jumped as a stack of files fell to the floor.

“What is all this stuff?” he asked, and O grinned.

“The full MI6 record of the unexplained. As compiled by me. Human disappearances, sightings of unidentified objects, mysterious beings, possible alien incursions, going back centuries. And a complete set of Fortean Times in mint condition,” he answered, and Jo’s eyebrows raised, impressed. He looked around, a bit forlorn. “Look at all the evidence I gathered, and they just… mocked me,” something dark flickered in his eyes for a moment before he sighed, sadness covering up whatever was lurking underneath the surface.

“Nobody’s mocking you now,” the Doctor assured him, and O shrugged, leaning against the counter as he waited for the water to boil.

“I heard C was shot,” he said, and Graham nodded, eyes wide.

“We were there! Well, the Doc and I were, nearly got us and all!” he exclaimed, and O nodded, glancing down a Jo for a moment.

“You weren’t with them?” he asked, and she shook her head.

“They picked me up on the way here,” she told him.

“Huh, usually the Doctor’s companions are there for the whole adventure,” he commented, his eyes darting to the side for a moment before focusing back on her. “Or so I’ve heard,” Jo flushed, looking away.

“I mean, I’m not really a  _ companion _ ,” she tried to explain. “I accompany her sometimes as a fill in, but I’m like a… non-companion companion substitute,” she stammered, and O smirked a bit, nodding.

“A non-companion,” he repeated, a hint of teasing in his tone, and Jo pouted, turning away from him.

“Hush,” she muttered, and Graham snickered watching the interaction. O turned to the kettle as it boiled, pouring the tea into a steeper and then looking over at the Doctor.

“Does this connect to the attacks on agents? I've been monitoring the chatter Doctor. Is it aliens? Aliens attacking spies all over the world,” he asked, and the Doctor nodded solemnly.

“And rewriting their DNA,” Jo and O both gasped, neither aware of this information yet.

“That’s terrifying,” O breathed, before a grin broke out. “But, wow! Why would they do that?” he seemed so excited at the thought of the extraterrestrial, and Jo smiled slightly at his boyish grin.

“Don't know. They almost infiltrated my TARDIS as we were taking off. I was hoping you might have something in your research bank that might give us some clues,” the Doctor said hopefully, before seeing a laptop and making a beeline for it. Jo sniggered, and both Graham and O took the Doctor’s distraction as an opportunity to speak to Jo a bit more. Obviously the Doctor would be occupied with… whatever… for a little bit.

“So you said 1923 was just when you were staying?” Graham asked after a moment, and Jo nodded. “What does that mean?” he followed up, and Jo shrugged.

“I mean, I’m a time traveller as well, and so I’ve just been living a bit behind for a while,” she explained, and Graham’s brows furrowed as O looked at her closer.

“So are you… human?” he asked her, and Jo shrugged.

“For the most part,” she said, but that only peaked their curiosity further.

“What?” O asked.

“Yeah, what’s that supposed to mean? For the most part? Ain’t much of an answer innit?” Graham followed up with, and Jo found herself shrugging once more, the flush returning to her cheeks.

“I mean… there are some… traits I have that aren’t human, but until they surfaced I thought I was human,” she explained. “Not even the TARDIS can identify me as anything other than ‘ _ human _ ’,” she told them, and O’s brows furrowed in confusion before his face smoothed over once more. Graham nodded, satisfied, and began to look around once more, going off into another area as O handed Jo a cup of tea which she thanked him for.

“Wow,” they heard Graham say as O handed the Doctor her tea. They followed Graham into another section of the hut, and saw him standing in front of a bank of monitors displaying different angles around the house. “This is some setup,” he commented with raised brows, and O shrugged, sitting down at the monitors and taking a quick peek around. “Paranoid, are we?” he asked, and O’s jaw ticked, to Jo’s surprise. Graham didn’t seem to notice, but O took in a deep breath before answering.

“I prefer cautious, I like to know if anything’s watching me,” he explained, before looking back at the Doctor. “If you’re already in the middle of all this,” he began, and the Doctor glanced up at him. “How do you know they won’t follow you here?” he asked, and the Doctor and Graham both began to shift uncomfortably, neither of them having an answer as Graham sat down to look through some of the files lying around, and the Doctor continued to fiddle with the laptop.

“So,” O said, spinning from the monitors to face Jo, who was standing awkwardly behind him. He rolled his eyes playfully, dragging another chair close to him and motioning for her to sit, which she did. “Why 1923?” he asked, and Jo shrugged.

“I mean, I started there in 1920, wanted to see the signing of the 19th amendment,” she looked at O, realizing since he wasn’t American he might not know what that was. “The amendment in America that-”

“Gave women the right to vote,” O finished for her, and she grinned, happy he knew.

“Yeah,” she muttered. “And then I decided to stay for the roaring twenties, though I’m getting real tired of being called  _ toots _ and  _ dollface _ ,” she grumbled, and O chuckled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I intentionally left some things about Jo vague, but all will be revealed...


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn’t until after the sun had set that something interesting happened. 

O was sitting in the chair in front of the monitors for his security system, and Graham and the Doctor were standing behind him, looking at the screen. Jo was still sitting in the chair O had pulled out for her, a little off to the side.

“What just happened?” Graham asked when a light came on outside, showing through the window and on the screens in front of them, and O’s eyes darted up to him before focusing back on the screen.

“Two motion sensors tripped,” O told them, his brows furrowing in worry. Another light came on, then another, and soon the whole area surrounding O’s cabin was lit up by his light sensors. “What have you brought here Doctor?” O asked, voice low, and Jo looked up to see the Doctor worrying her lip between her teeth, eyes darting back and forth.

“I don’t know,” she answered, voice barely audible. She perked up quickly though, turning with a flourish of her coat. “Let’s take a look outside,” she suggested, and O stood to follow her. Jo and Graham exchanged looks as Jo slowly stood from her own seat.

“Looking outside was actually quite low on my list-” Graham tried to argue, but they heard the door open at the front of the hut, and he heaved out a heavy sigh, looking at Jo with a lost look. She shrugged, and he rolled his eyes. “But when does she ever listen to me?” he asked himself, and Jo chuckled before beginning to follow O and the Doctor outside. “Oi!” Graham called after her, and she heard his footsteps pounding so he could catch up. “Don’t go without me!”

They exited the hut as Seesay was approaching O and the Doctor. His shoulders tensed in irritation when he saw Jo and Graham as well. All of a sudden, the lights went off. Jo gasped as they were plunged into a sudden darkness.

“That’s not good,” she muttered, and Graham hummed in agreement.

“Please all of you, back inside!” Seesay urged, but the Doctor ignored him, taking out her sonic and pointing it around the area. She looked at the side and shook her head.

“No readings,” she reported, and Graham held up a hand.

“You didn’t get any readings off that thing in the TARDIS either,” he reminded her, and Jo’s head snapped to look at him.

“The sonic didn’t pick anything up?” she asked in surprise, and the Doctor groaned.

“I know! There’s something-” she paused, her eyebrows furrowing as she tried to see further in the darkness. “It’s like I can sense them,”

“I know what you mean,” O agreed, and Jo shifted uncomfortably as she felt an odd sensation begin to prickle all around her. Was this what O and the Doctor were talking about?

“Out there, hiding, tripping the sensors to let us know they’re here,” the Doctor said, obviously trying to figure out what the game plan of these creatures was. “It’s like they’re watching us,”

“Like animals stalking their prey,” O contributed, though he cringed when Graham and the Doctor both shot him incredulous looks. “Sorry, not helpful,” he apologized, and Jo shrugged. The prickling sensation got worse, and she cringed, it was becoming almost painful. She was now sure that this was  _ not _ what O and the Doctor were experiencing.

“I’m gonna head inside,” she whispered to Graham, hoping that being inside would lessen the sensation, and he nodded as Seesay began to speak to the Doctor. Jo made her way into the cabin, sighing in relief when the sensation lessened a bit. She sunk down on the couch, wrapping her arms around herself and curling into a ball, desperate to not feel the prickling anymore.

A minute or so later, the rest of them came inside, though the Doctor was pouting. 

“Jo?” Graham asked, walking over to her. O followed closely behind him. “What’s the matter?” Jo shook her head where it was dropped between her knees.

“Can you not feel it?” she asked, and Graham and O exchanged puzzled looks.

“Feel what?” O asked.

“The tingling,” Jo answered, shivering a bit as the sensation began to get worse once more. “It’s like it’s all around me, it  _ hurts _ ,” she whimpered a bit when the sensation amplified.

Jo groaned in pain, and O and Graham sat themselves on the couch on either side of her., exchanging worried looks over her curled up form. O raised a hand to gently stroke along her back, and Jo relaxed a little.

All of them jumped when they heard the sound of gunshots outside, and Jo whimpered once more. 

“Browning!” the Doctor gasped, running outside, and Graham stood to follow her, hesitating for a moment as he looked back at Jo.

“I’ll stay with her,” O assured him, and he nodded, following the Doctor outside. Jo shivered again, before her body jerked. O jumped in surprise.

“Are you alright?” he asked, and Jo shook her head, her body jerking again.

“I don’t-” she was cut off by another jerk. “Know what’s happening,” she said, and O could clearly see the panic in her eyes.

“Get away from them!” they heard the Doctor yell, and Jo sighed in relief as all of a sudden the tingling stopped. Unfortunately, the relief was not long lived, and as a blinding light came from the windows outside the cabin, Jo grit her teeth and let out a shout of pain. O glanced between her and the door, before giving her an apologetic look. 

“I’m sorry,” he muttered, before standing and running to the computer banks where he could see what was happening. Not a moment later, Graham and the Doctor ran in, going straight to where O was.

“No signals off any of them,” the Doctor said, glancing over at Jo as she groaned in pain once more. “They just obliterated those bodies. What can they be?” she asked, though she knew that nobody had any answer for her.

“Looks like they’re moving,” Graham said, his voice extremely worried. “They’re surrounding the building-look!” O smirked.

“That’s what we want,” he said, and both Graham and the Doctor looked at him in surprise.

“Do we?” she asked him, and he nodded, biting his lip as he observed the screen closely.

“Yep, just a little closer-” he slammed a button on his keyboard, and blue bolts of electricity intercepted the creatures. They all heard howls of pain before all of a sudden-they just blinked out of existence.

Jo sagged in relief, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Did we kill them?” Graham asked, to which the Doctor shook her head.

“More like they retreated,” she answered, and Jo stumbled off the couch, making her way over to the other three slowly.

“How did you know that’d work?” Graham asked O, and he shook his head with a small smile.

“Didn’t-I gambled,” he answered, and the Doctor’s eyebrows raised. 

“Some kit you’ve got here,” she observed, and O shrugged, about to answer, but Jo piped up, at this point close enough to them.

“Guys,” she croaked, and all of them looked over at her in surprise. “They’re not all gone,” she said, shivering as she still felt a faint tingle. Sure enough, they looked at the screen to see a lone figure of light standing outside. Jo cringed as it got closer, and Graham directed her to sit in a chair once more as O turned to the Doctor.

“Plan B. I've got a plan B. It's in the blueprints Doctor, just under the folder – I rigged it in case anything got past the first line of defence,” he told her, and the Doctor nodded, digging through the files for the blueprint. She pulled it out as the creature began pushing through the wall, the light disappearing as it took on the colors of the wall.

“It’s coming through the wall!” Graham exclaimed. “How can it do that?” 

“Physical boundaries don't stop it -- but it's still not used to this planet -- maybe even this reality,” the Doctor explained as the creature broke through the wall and took on it’s form of pure light once more. It flicked off, and Jo almost screamed in pain when it showed itself once more, closer to them this time.

“Spring loaded?” the Doctor asked O, to which he nodded.

“Yep,”

“What’re you talking about?” Graham asked, his eyes wide as the creature continued to stalk towards them. Jo curled herself further into a ball the closer it came. The Doctor lifted her sonic and pressed the button, and all of a sudden the creature was encased in a plastic box.

“You could’ve warned me about that,” Graham sagged his shoulders in relief, and Jo relaxed minutely, the plastic almost muting the sensations.

“Reroute the charge, we need to keep it in there,” the Doctor commanded O, and he nodded, turning back to his computer and frantically typing into it. The creature realized it was trapped, and began to push its way through the plastic, causing Jo to writhe in agony. “Bit quicker?” the Doctor prompted, and O shook his head.

“Yes, doing my best,” he confirmed. The creature pushed a bit further, and the Doctor shoved O out of the way, beginning to work at the computer herself.

“That thing can’t hold it!” Graham shouted, and O rolled his eyes a bit.

“Is he just here for running commentary?” he asked, and Graham’s eyes snapped over to him, a bit offended. The Doctor slammed a button on the keyboard, and all of a sudden the creature was pushed back, howling in pain as electricity jolted it. O looked on in awe. “It worked-it  _ actually _ worked!” he gave an almost breathless laugh as Jo was able to uncurl herself from the ball once more. The Doctor stepped up to the case, facing off with the creature.

“Who are you?” she asked, but got no answer. “What are you doing to the people of this planet?” she tried again, only to get the same result. “Why are you changing their DNA?” nothing. “Why spies? Why are you only attacking spies?” she rolled her eyes as the creature remained impassive. “What are you except reluctant to talk?” she demanded, and O picked up his laptop once more.

“I’m thinking one more blast,” he muttered as the Doctor continued to fire out questions.

“How many are you? Your race, or species, or whatever you are?” silence. “Where are you from?”

“Far beyond,” they all gasped when the creature answered her, well, except the Doctor.

“So you can communicate then, beyond where?” she asked.

“Your understanding,” an eerie sound filled the cabin, and Jo shifted uncomfortably.

“Is it laughing?” she asked, and Graham nodded.

“Think it’s laughing at you, Doc,” the Doctor sighed.

“Yes, I got that,” she observed the creature closer. “Is this your native form? Or where it is you’re from, is this what you look like at home?” she asked.

“We take this form,” it paused. “To mock you, your shape amuses us,” the Doctor stared on, her face blank.

“Very funny,” she deadpanned.

“We are stable. We are ready,” the creature said, and the Doctor’s head tilted.

“What does that mean, stable? Ready for what?” she asked.

“To take this,” the creature answered.

“To take this what?” the Doctor pressed. “Hut? Country? Planet?”

“Universe,” the glow from the creature began to get brighter, and Jo cringed in pain once more.

“Interesting. That glow’s increasing,” the Doctor stepped a bit closer, peeing at the creature. “Life getting more intense? Or is something going on?” she asked, and the glow increased to the point where they all had to cover their eyes, though Jo’s were squeezed shut in pain.

“This isn’t good Doctor!” O said as he turned away with his laptop, trying to continue working. “It’s trying to overload my system!” as soon as he said that, his laptop exploded. He jumped back as smoke and sparks erupted from it, and turned back to the creature, shielding his eyes with his hand. “It’s like it’s taken a suicide pill,” he observed, and the creature’s glow continued to expand. Jo screamed in pain as the light encased the whole cabin, before all of a sudden-it was gone. The light, the pain, and standing in the box was no longer a white creature.

Yasmin Khan stood in the center of the box, a look of terror on her face. The Doctor frantically turned to get O to turn the power off. Jo collapsed.


	3. Chapter 3

Jo woke up with a splitting headache. She groaned as she rolled over, burrowing further into her pillow, which she just now noticed did not have her blue and white striped pillow case on it, but was instead a deep purple. Her eyes widened, and she looked around, seeing wooden walls surrounded her, there was a window which showed a desert plain outside, and she was covered in a light blanket as opposed to her extremely heavy duvet in her New York apartment.

It all came rushing back to her at once. The Doctor picking her up, meeting O, those weird light beings-the pain. Jo cringed at the memory alone, and she sat up, looking around. She was clearly in a bedroom, most likely O’s since a hermit wouldn’t have much use for a guest bedroom. She shakily stood, looking around for her combat boots when she noticed that someone had taken her off when she was tucked into bed. She found them next to the door, and she grabbed them, sitting on the bed to lace them up. Jo glanced at the bed once more, wondering how she had gone from collapsing in front of O’s security monitors to his bed. Had the Doctor carried her?

With a hand on the wall for support, Jo exited the room and made her way to the front of the cabin, where she could hear voices coming from the porch.

“-ton’s DNA registers him as 93% human,” the Doctor was saying, and Jo gently pushed the door open, happy when it didn’t creak and distract everyone. Both O and the Doctor looked up as she stepped out onto the porch, and O stood and went over to her.

“Which makes him what? Alien?” Graham asked as O offered his arm, which Jo clutched gratefully as he led her to the chair he had been occupying before.

“You alright?” he asked quietly, leaning down to be next to her ear so as to not disturb the conversation around them. Jo nodded, ignoring the flush that came to her cheeks as his breath brushed against the shell of her ear.

“Catch me up to speed?” she asked, wincing at the sound of her own voice, which was scratchy. O smiled softly at her, giving her an untouched cup of what appeared to be iced tea, which Jo gratefully began to sip on as O explained what had happened.

Apparently Yaz had been separated from Ryan in California and was sent to an odd dark dimension by those light creatures they had all encountered last night. When Jo had passed out, the creature had kind of exploded, leaving Yaz in its place. Oh, and this Barton guy they had been investigating was in league with the creatures. The Doctor had gone to pick up Ryan, and after some rest they were all now discussing next moves. 

“But he can’t be alien,” O said after his explanations, turning to the Doctor. “I've been through Barton's records -- there are thousands of photos of him online, at all ages. If he's not human, that is one very impressive legend he's put together,” he said, and Yaz piped up.

“Not impossible, though,” she said, and Jo grimaced, bringing her phone out of her pocket and quickly pulling up some records of Barton.

“Very,  _ very _ , unlikely, however,” she countered, showing the phone to everyone else. “His mother is still alive,” the ‘fam’ as the Doctor had dubbed them all tilted their heads. “Usually, as to avoid loose ends, cover ups which need family history have the parents be dead, so unless he went through the trouble of having this random ass human lady pretend to be his mother-” she trailed off, and they all nodded in agreement.

Jo found herself zoning in and out for the next parts, her eyes drooping occasionally. Thankfully, when everyone got up to go inside, O nudged her and assisted her in going back into the cabin and sitting her at the table. There was an odd image projecting on the screen, which the Doctor was trying to decode. Jo peered at it, and grinned.

“Overlay a map of the world,” she told the Doctor, who looked at her, puzzled, before complying. “Erase gradients that are over 50%,” she said next, and the Doctor did this as well. They were met with hundreds of red dots splayed over the map.

“What is that?” Yaz asked.

“I’d guess it’s the locations of those creatures across the planet Earth,” Jo told her, and the Doctor smiled.

“So glad I have you, Jo, never was the best at steganography,” she grinned, and Jo gave her a weak smile in return.

“It's all in the patterns. Steganography. Encrypted code. Attacks on intelligence agents. It's all spycraft. They're alien spies. Embedded on Earth,” the Doctor walked through her thought process, gasping at the end, and O shook his head.

“No, that’s not possible,” he argued, but Ryan cut him off.

“Spies from where?” he asked, and Jo saw O’s jaw tick in irritation at being cut off.

“I don't know. Don't recognise them, don't recognise the language, don't know why they're attacking people,” the Doctor turned to Yaz. “Or what happened to you,” Yaz sighed, a hand rubbing down her arm in discomfort at the mention of her brief time in that place.

“The image is still changing, Doc,” Graham piped up, and everyone’s attention returned to the screen. 

“Still being decrypted,” she said with a shrug, though her brows furrowed when the map broke off into multiple maps. “Why’s it doing that?” she asked, and the image showed ten maps of Earth, each one with more red dots than the last.

“I don’t understand,” the Doctor said with furrowed brows, and Jo squinted at it. “Multiple Earths, what does that mean?”

“Maybe different dimensions, maybe different times,” Jo suggested, and the Doctor and O looked at her in surprise. O’s eyes held some sort of wonder in them, but it was quickly covered. He was hiding something-though for the life of her Jo couldn’t figure out what. “Come on, Doctor, we’re not the only time travellers out there,” she said, and the Doctor nodded, accepting her explanation.

“If you really think they're spies,” O began, standing and beginning to pace. “We should be asking, who's the spymaster? Who's running the alien spies? Because that's the person who holds the answers,” he said, and Jo nodded.

“It’s gotta be this Daniel Barton,” Graham said, and though Jo wasn’t convinced, it was what they had to go off of at the moment. 

“C said they thought Barton was a double or triple agent,” Yaz offered, and the Doctor nodded.

“We need to pay Barton a visit,” she declared, and Ryan grinned. 

“Good thing he’s having a party then,” he said, holding up his phone. “We got invites,” the Doctor grinned.

“Yes!” she patted both Yaz and Ryan on the shoulders excitedly. “Nice work, you two!” she beamed, and Graham looked to Ryan.

“Got enough invites for all of us, have you?” he asked, and the Doctor waved him off.

“I’m sure I can hack a guest list,” she said, before turning to O. “What d’you reckon? Fancy a trip in the box?” O grinned, the smile spreading across his face so wide Jo was concerned that it might hurt. 

“I really, really would,” he agreed, and the Doctor smiled, motioning her head to the door.

“Be my guest,”

* * *

A little later Jo was rooting through the closet for some formalwear in her size. The Doctor popped her head in the door.

“Not ready yet?” she asked, and Jo rolled her eyes, shooting a glare at the Doctor.

“All your companions are skinny,” she grumbled, and the Doctor’s eyes widened.

“Well-” she sputtered, trying to justify it, but Jo rolled her eyes once more, pulling out a dress that fell to just below the knees, deciding it will have to do.

“Sorry, but I won’t be in a tux like the rest of you,” she said, and the Doctor shrugged, grinning as she hopped out of the wardrobe again, allowing Jo privacy to change.

The dress was a deep purple sleeveless thing, with a fitted bust and a ruffled skirt that fanned out to just below her knees. Jo did a spin once it was on, deciding it looked good enough, and left the wardrobe, gasping as she ran into O, who was making his way to the console room.

“Oh!” Jo gasped as she stumbled, and his hands raised to her upper arms, steadying her as he shot her a small grin.

“That’s my name,” he muttered. “Don’t wear it out,” he said, before righting her and continuing on his way. He turned once he noticed she wasn’t following. “Coming?” Jo jumped, a flush spreading up her neck to her cheeks as she hurried to catch up to him, smiling slightly as she walked beside him.

“You clean up nice,” she complimented, though she refused to look at him as she said it, embarrassed enough by the earlier events. O glanced at her, amused, and nudged her with his elbow.

“You look lovely, yourself,” he told her, and Jo’s flush returned as she turned her face further away.

“Thanks,” she murmured, tugging at the skirt of her dress.

* * *

The party was being held at a mansion, and the TARDIS materialized in between rows of vines in a vineyard. The Doctor grinned as she stepped out, turning to the fam + O and Jo, who were all suited up in classy black and white tuxes. Minus Jo, of course.

“Shall we?” she asked, and the group nodded, excitedly following her up the drive and into the house, where a woman was waiting with an iPad. “The names Doctor,  _ The _ Doctor,” she said dramatically, and Jo rolled her eyes. 

“We’re on the list,” she piped up, and the woman nodded, gesturing for them to go on through. Jo’s eyes widened as she saw the casino that had been set up within the mansion.

“Is this a bad time to mention I’ve never really done undercover work?” O asked, and Graham turned to him in surprise.

“You said you worked for MI6!” he accused, and O shrugged.

“As an analyst,” he defended. “In an office,”

“It's a party. We're guests. Blend in and enjoy yourselves. I’ll keep an eye out for Mr Barton,” the Doctor piped up, and the fam needed no further convincing, breaking off and going to different tables. O turned to Jo with an expectant look.

“Well?” he asked, and Jo uncomfortably shifted her wait.

“I don’t really gamble,” she muttered, and O chuckled, nodding in understanding.

“Well, I think I’ll try my hand at craps, actually,” he said, pointing to a table, and Jo nodded, deciding to follow him so she wasn’t  _ alone _ at a party for rich socialites. She leaned close to him as he placed a bet, picking up some dice and beginning to shake them. He threw them, and Jo found her hand clutching his arm in anticipation. When the dice had stopped, the people around them erupted in applause, and Jo grinned up at O.

“So you won?” she asked, and he laughed, shaking his head as he gazed down at her.

“No,” he answered, and Jo frowned slightly.

“Oh,” she said in disappointment, but O grinned at her, nudging her as he led her back away from the table.

“Well, you know what they say, lucky in dice, unlucky in love,” he smirked down at her, and Jo’s brows furrowed.

“I have  _ never _ heard that,” she muttered, and O shrugged.

“Got me,” he chuckled, and Jo looked up at him in question. “They don’t say that,” Jo found herself quickly lost down a rabbit hole, despite her best efforts to  _ not _ chase the white rabbit. It’s just-his eyes were so  _ pretty _ . She imagined him with a beard, imagining it would be better suited to his face than the short stubble he had now. He was returning her stare, observing her with such rapt fascination that Jo was concerned for a second that he knew what  _ exactly _ her inhuman traits were. There was no reason for him to be looking at her like that other than him knowing, right? He couldn’t be… interested in her? Of course not.

Their moment, if it could be considered a moment, was broken when the Doctor walked by.

“Time for a chat,” she said, and Jo’s eyes snapped from O’s to follow the Doctor’s gaze, seeing Barton exit the main hall and go out into the garden. She nodded, blushing as she stepped a little away from O.

The Doctor strode away from them, and they exchanged awkward glances, only breaking when they both burst into a fit of giggles. Jo could’ve cried in relief that the awkward moment had passed, and they went to go to another table when the Doctor spoke in their ear pieces.

“Barton’s heading your way gang. Keep an eye on him. Do not let him out of your site!” she said, and Jo and O both turned away from the game they had set their gaze on to look around the room, not seeing Barton anywhere. They saw the Doctor enter, and quickly went to her, meeting the other’s as they all strode through the hall back to the entrance.

“None of you saw him come back in?” the Doctor asked as they broke through the doors. “He must be here somewhere,” Yaz pointed to a black car, where they all saw Barton closing the door to the back seat.

“There he is!” she gasped, and the Doctor took off, everyone else being forced to follow.

“Oh no you don’t,” the Doctor growled, racing to intercept him, but the tires of the car screeched as it pulled out of the drive.

“Oh! He’s off!” Graham gasped, and Ryan groaned.

“Who leaves their own birthday party?” he asked, to which Jo shrugged. She would’ve laughed if it were a more appropriate moment. “He’s definitely guilty,” they all looked around for a way to trail him, and the fam all ended up gazing at the motorcycles lined up by the front.

“Remember our trip to the Great Kalisperon Bike-Off?” the Doctor asked, and Jo groaned as she followed the others. O hopped on the back of Yaz’s motorcycle while Jo got on the back of the Doctor’s.

“I don’t see why you’re driving,” she muttered as the Doctor started the bike up. “I’m the better driver,” the Doctor glanced back at her before shrugging.

“Too late!” she cried, and the bike sped off down the driveway.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we finally come to the reveal!

“Next time I’m driving!” Jo shouted as the Doctor zoomed down the road after Barton’s car. She could vaguely hear Graham and Ryan shouting, but she couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. 

Up ahead, Jo saw Barton’s head stick out the window, followed by his hand.

“Is that a..?” Jo began to ask, but was cut off when the Doctor swerved out of the way as Barton fired his gun at them.

 **Bang! Bang!** The Doctor swerved out of the way, and Jo clung on for dear life.

“Okay! Next time you can drive!” the Doctor agreed with her when more shots followed.

 **Bang! Bang!** Jo could hear Graham and Ryan shouting again. **Bang! Bang!** The Doctor thrust her arm out, signaling something to the rest of the fam. Before Jo could ask, the Doctor split from the group, going down an alley of vines. Jo could make out the others through the leaves, each in another alley.

“Fuuuuck!” Jo shouted, hanging onto the Doctor even tighter as she bounced up and down on the bike. Clearly they were not built for off-roading.

“Language!” the Doctor shouted back, causing Jo to roll her eyes.

* * *

They drove after Barton, skidding to a stop when they reached his hangar, seeing the doors slide closed. Yaz slid her helmet off, looking over at the Doctor.

“What now?” she asked, and both Jo and the Doctor looked around.

“Service entrance!” Jo whisper shouted, pointing at a door on the side of the hangar. The Doctor nodded, and everyone made their way through, the Doctor sonicing the door open. Jo was the last in, gently shutting the door behind them, and they made their way past small one and two person planes, looking for Barton.

They all froze when they saw Barton leaving the hangar and heading to another. They quickly followed him, pressing up against the side of a plane to avoid being seen.

“-eady to go?” Barton was asking a maintenance engineer. The man nodded as Ryan looked around.

“How many planes does one guy need?” he asked, to which Jo muffled her giggle with her hand. 

“There he is,” the Doctor pointed and ran ahead, and the rest of the gang exchanged glances before following. Ahead of them was a huge passenger plane.

“That is one big plane,” Ryan muttered, and Jo scoffed.

“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” she snarked, and he shot her a fake offended look. O smirked in her direction, and she grinned back.

“Where’s he going in that?” Yaz asked, and the Doctor shrugged her shoulders minutely.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But we can’t let him get away!”

“How?” Graham countered. “It’s not like we’re gonna just jump on a plane with him!” the Doctor smirked, and Jo smacked Graham’s arm lightly.

“Quit giving her ideas,” she muttered, and Graham sighed heavily.

“Oh come on!”

The plane began to move, and the Doctor’s eyes widened.

“Come on!” she called to the gang, and everyone began sprinting after the plane. The Doctor thrust her arm forward, sonicing towards the plane, and the hold door on the underside of the plane began to lower. The Doctor dove in, scrambling up to begin sonicing a panel. “And she’s in!” she turned to look at the rest of the gang, who were all slightly behind. “In you come!” she shouted, reaching her hand out as Yaz jumped on. She pulled her up, finishing sonicing the panel next to her. Ryan jumped on next, being helped onto the plane by Yaz, and Graham jumped on right after him. Jo looked over her shoulder, seeing O just beginning to sprint out of the hangar, and her brows furrowed.

“Come on!" she shouted at him, pushing her legs a bit harder and jumping into the plane. The Doctor grabbed her, pulling her to the side, and reached her hand out towards O.

“Come on son!” Graham called to him, everyone anxiously anticipating the plane gaining speed.

“I need to close the door!” the Doctor shouted, and O threw himself up into the hold. The door slammed shut, and O brought his hands to his knees, panting.

“Sorry,” he wheezed. “Never been good at sprinting,” he looked at them apologetically, and the Doctor’s head snapped to the side stare at him quizzically.

“What?” she asked, but before she could question him further, Ryan tapped her on the arm.

“Come on Doctor, we’re about to take off!” he said, and the Doctor turned to the rest of the group, motioning forward.

“The main cabin!” she prompted, and everyone climbed up. The plane began to increase in speed, and Jo stumbled backwards, only to be caught by steady arms.

“Got you,” O said, his hands squeezing her upper arms before he gently nudged her to keep moving.

“Thanks,” she murmured to him, climbing up into the main cabin as the plane inclined. They were taking off.

“Here,” the Doctor said, and Yaz turned to look at her.

“What’re we actually gonna do?” she asked, and the Doctor shrugged nonchalantly.

“Sit tight and see where’s he going,” she said as if it were obvious, before turning to O, an incredulous look appearing on her face. “Never been good at sprinting?” she repeated, and O shrugged sheepishly.

“Last one in every race at school,”

“No,” the Doctor shook her head. “I read your file. You were a champion sprinter!” The others all turned to stare at O and the Doctor, and a sense of uneasiness filled the cabin.

“Got me,” O looked up at them all with an uncharacteristic smirk on his face. “Well done,” 

“What’s going on, Doc?” Graham asked, but the Doctor didn’t have an answer. She continued to stare at “O”.

“I don’t know,” she muttered, and “O” smiled excitedly.

“Best take a look out the window,” he prompted, gesturing with his head towards the side of the plane, and everyone scrambled to look.

“How’s your house out there?” Graham shouted in surprise, and Jo peeked over his shoulder, seeing O’s hut flying right beside the plane.

“Bit Wicked Witch of the West, but you get the gist,” he turned to the Doctor expectantly, but she continued to stare at him in confusion. “Maybe? Maybe not…” the Doctor looked from him to the hut, and Jo’s brows furrowed as she thought.

“It’s a chameleon circuit,” she said after a moment, and both “O” and the Doctor snapped their heads to the side to look at her. “But how do you have a TARDIS?” the Doctor’s eyes widened, and she turned back to “O”.

“Oohhh,” she muttered, a look of pure terror overtaking her face.

“That’s my name! And that’s why I chose it,” “O” laughed, beaming with pure sadistic glee, and turned to everyone else. “So satisfying,” he smirked before turning back to the Doctor.

“Doctor. I did say: _look for the spymaster_. Or should I say, spy... Master,” he looked like he was about to burst with chaotic energy, and both the Doctor and Jo gasped. She had heard about him from the Doctor, though it was very rare seeing as they were a bit of a sore spot.

“Hi!” he waved at them, childlike, and the Doctor shook her head.

“You can’t be,” she muttered, and Jo reached out to put a reassuring hand on her arm.

“I can be,” he countered. “And I very much am,” Ryan straightened, looking between him and the Doctor.

“What’s going on? Is he not really O?” he asked, but the Doctor was in too much shock to answer. As Jo opened her mouth to, he beat her to it.

“I’m her best enemy,” his head tilted as a dark look overtook his face. “Call me Master,”

“Call you what?” Graham asked, and Ryan looked on in a mix of disgust and confusion.

“Master,” he muttered, and O grinned, stepping towards the gang.

“Me and her…” he looked down at the Doctor for a moment. “We go way back,”

“I met O-” the Doctor finally recovered from her shock, and the Master grinned again.

“I know!” he agreed.

“Years ago,”

“I know!” he began to laugh hysterically, and if Jo didn’t know that Timelords had a respiratory bypass, she would be concerned he wasn’t breathing. Well, at this point perhaps concerned wasn’t the right word for it… 

“But there was an O at MI6,” Ryan argued. “C talked about him,” The Master nodded.

“Yes, a man close to my heart,” his hand rose to his breast pocket, and he smirked evilly at the group. “Well, in my pocket actually. Wanna see him?” he began to pat his pockets, searching for something. “Always good to keep a backup of one’s work,” he finally found what he was looking for, and reached in to pull out a matchbox. He shook it once, before opening it and pulling out a miniature figure. It looked like a doll. “Tissue compression! Classic!” he explained excitedly. “Ambushed him, on his way into work for his first day. Shrunk him, took his identity, set myself up in MI6. Surprisingly good staff canteen,” he told them all, and Jo and the Doctor exchanged looks. Tissue Compression was banned in almost all reaches of the universe, using a TCE was enough to get one imprisoned by the judoon. Jo was beginning to see what people meant when they described the Master as ‘pure evil’. The Master went to put O back in his pocket, but he seemed to think better of it, tossing the matchbox to the side. The Master began to bounce on the balls of his feet, grinning. “I have had,” he paused to take a big breath. “A lot of fun!” he began to clap his hands, and Jo took a step away from him.

“I need to warn Barton!” the Doctor gasped, turning and running to the cockpit. Jo stared uneasily at the Master as she did, not liking the unworried look on his face. The Doctor slammed open the door before turning back to them, her face pale.

“He’s not here,” she muttered, and she turned to the Master, who had begun to approach her. “Where’s Barton? What have you done to him?” she demanded, and Jo’s brows furrowed.

“I mean I’m pretty sure they’re working together-” the Master shot her a perplexed glare, shutting her up but also intriguing her. Why was he confused by her observation? It seemed pretty obvious now.

“That’s the wrong question anyways,” he said, looking around casually. “Check the seat,” she flung herself into the cockpit once more, looking at the seat and paling even further. She looked like she was about to be sick. Jo shoved past the Master to see what the Doctor was looking at, and she paled when she saw it. A giant bomb was strapped to the pilot’s seat, counting down.

“Cockpit bomb,” the Master smirked. “Short fuse, I can relate to that!” Jo would have laughed, or at least giggled, if this were literally any other situation, but instead all she could do was pull out her crude sonic screwdriver, something the Doctor had helped her build a long time ago, and pointed it at the bomb. The Doctor pulled hers out as well, since it generally worked better, and the Master growled. “D'you really think I wouldn't make that sonic-proof, Doctor?” he shouted, his voice oozing with disappointment. “C’mon! Deadlock sealed. And I made sure: no parachutes on board,” he smirked once more, and Jo shoved her sonic back in her pocket, taking out one of the many knives on her person and examining the wires around it.

“There must be a way,” the Doctor murmured, and Jo nudged her to the side, kneeling in front of the bomb to examine it. She cut though the cardboard paper around the main body and groaned when she saw the possibly thousands of wires around it. She shook her head.

“But where’s Barton? We saw him come in?” Yaz asked.

“Called away before take-off,” The Master said. “By me,” he added as an afterthought.

“Called it,” Jo muttered as she continued to look for some way to diffuse the bomb.

“Stick with me, guys, cuz I control,” he paused seeming to think, before grinning once more. “Well… everything… Even these guys!” with that he snapped his figures, causing three silhouettes to come from the walls of the plane. Jo screamed at the sudden pain, collapsing back against the Doctor’s legs. The Master glanced at her.

“Though I’m not sure why that happens,” he pointed at her, then shrugged. The bomb was still counting down, and the Doctor’s eyes widened. She gasped, grabbing Jo and dragging her out of the cockpit, shouting to the others.

“Get away!” she screamed, before the blast pushed her forward. She was sent stumbling through the aisle, and was forced to let go of Jo, who was crumpled in a ball at the pain the bright creatures were causing her. She fell at the Master’s feet. The others were thrown backwards into the seats, and to everyone (except the Master’s) horror, the cockpit was now just two charred seats and a center console. The plane began to lurch downwards, falling, and the Master grabbed Jo before she could slide down the aisle and forced her between two rows of seats. If anyone were to ask why he saved her, he would probably say so that she died with the rest of the Doctor’s friends. He didn’t want to leave anything to chance.

He stood, turning to face the Doctor.

“One last thing. Something you should know. In the seconds before you die. Everything that you think you know -- is a lie,” his face was deadly serious, and the Doctor looked on in horror as the grim look morphed into one of glee.

“Got you, finally,” he seemed relieved, before he pushed a button on a device and teleported out with a flash. The Doctor crawled towards Jo, who was still crumpled up in pain, and the creatures began to rush toward them both. Jo screamed once more as the fam called out for the Doctor.

And just like that, the creatures winked out of existence, taking Jo and the Doctor with them. Leaving three humans alone in a plane without a cockpit.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More hints about Jo's 'nonhuman' traits.

Jo woke up surprisingly pain free. She looked around, seeing weird columns going up into the sky-if it could be called the sky. The columns went up into the seemingly never ending darkness, which surrounded her on all sides.

“No, no, no!” she heard, and gasped. That was the Doctor. She stood up slowly, stumbling a bit, but made her way to where she heard her friend.

“Doctor?” she called, and the Doctor’s head snapped up. She grinned when she saw Jo.

“Jo!” she stood, racing over to the woman and embracing her tightly. “So glad you’re here!” she winced. “Well, not  _ here _ exactly, but glad you’re with me, these things are so much easier when you’re not alone!”

“Doctor,” Jo called once more, cutting off her excited rambling, and the Doctor hummed in question. “Do you know where we are?” the Doctor looked around at that question, a puzzled look on her face. She pulled out her sonic and held it up, pressing a button. Instead of lighting up and giving it’s usual whirring sound, the sonic just beeped.

“Won’t work in here,” the Doctor mumbled, before turning to Jo. “Try yours,” Jo did so, pulling her sonic out and trying to activate it, only to get the same result. She shrugged. “Why won’t it work? Could be a clue,” the Doctor muttered.

“Clue to what?” Jo asked, and the Doctor shrugged.

“No idea,” all of a sudden a ball of light whizzed by them, causing them to jump. “Wow!” the Doctor let out. “What was that? Interesting! Useful! Maybe…” her face looked uncertain for a moment, then another ball of light went by them. “Ooh, another! Even better!” she grinned. “What are they?” she looked to Jo, who shrugged.

“Pathways? Electrical signals? Could be synapses,” she fired off, and the Doctor’s face lit up.

“We could be inside something, ah, hope it's not a liver, hate being inside livers, people get so offended.  _ What're you doing in my liver, again? _ ” she rambled, and Jo decided that the whole liver thing was a question for another time.

“I hope it’s not a liver either,” she muttered.

“Hello?” they both jumped at the sound of a female voice. They exchanged confused looks. “Hello?” the voice called again, and before they could hesitate further, Jo and the Doctor ran towards the direction of the voice.

“Can you hear me?” the Doctor called as both her’s and Jo’s heads whipped around, looking for the mystery woman.

“We’re trying to find you!” Jo shouted, and they both gave sighs of relief when a figure came into view a little ahead of them. The woman looked up at them, her face the picture of perfect calm, and Jo and the Doctor exchanged confused looks once more.

“Please be assured, all this will pass. I shall be much recovered, momentarily,” the woman told them when they got close to her, and Jo’s brows furrowed.

“When you say you'll be recovered, what do you mean?” the Doctor asked, and the woman’s brows furrowed in slight confusion.

“The paralysis will fade,” Jo and the Doctor looked at each other once more.

“You don’t look paralyzed,” Jo pointed out, and the woman glanced at her.

“Not in this realm, but in my Earthly aspect,” Jo’s face pinched, and she mouthed  _ earthly aspect _ in confusion. Were her and the Doctor’s bodies still present on the plane? Or was this woman having an entire different experience?

“Right,” the Doctor nodded, though she looked no less confused. “What’s your name?”

“I am Ada,” the woman answered, and the Doctor nodded once more.

“And what do you think this realm is, Ada?” she pressed, and Ada looked around, a bit confused at the line of questioning.

“I believe it to be my mind,” she explained, but her face took on an uncertain look as she regarded Jo and the Doctor. “Though I have not met others here, before,”

“Then what do you think we are?” Jo asked, and Ada shrugged her shoulders minutely.

“I presume you are consequences of my thoughts,” she answered, and the Doctor shook her head.

“No, I’m the Doctor, this is Jo, and we are very much real,” she said, and Ada looked between the two of them, surprised.

“Wait, you’ve been here before?” Jo asked, and Ada nodded.

“Many times. When the paralysis subsides, I find myself fully back in my body. Restored in the physical realm,” she explained. “If you are real, do you have your own solution for egress from here?” she asked, and Jo and the Doctor shook their heads.

“No exit strategy,” the Doctor said. “And before we leave, need to work out what this place is,” she continued to look around, as if examining the monotonous terrain around them would provide any more clues. Suddenly the lights that were fizzing around them began grouping around Ada. Jo tugged on the Doctor’s sleeve and pointed to it.

“Those lights, why are they surrounding you?” Jo asked, and Ada smiled.

“They are always here with me. They place a word in my mind: Kasaavin,” she told them, and at that final word,  _ Kasaavin _ , the same glowing silhouette that Jo and the Doctor had been encountering appeared behind her. They both gasped, and Jo was a little confused at the fact that she was not met with the terrible pain that had racked her body with every other encounter.

“Ada, step away,” the Doctor warned, reaching a cautious hand out to the woman, but she smiled and attempted to calm the two time travellers.

“Do not be afraid,” she told them. “This is my guardian,” Jo watched in awe as Ada’s face remained a picture of calm as the creature continued to approach her. The Doctor looked around, realization dawning on her face.

“This is their realm,” she muttered, and Jo glanced between the Doctor and the creature next to Ada. “This is where they’re from,” she turned to the creature, stepping closer to it. “But how did you bring us here, unless… oh, no you can't be, but you must be… you're also, what, gateways? We go through you, and arrive in your realm? And I say realm, not a planet, not really a void, separate dimension? Are we beyond our, my universe?” she rambled, and Jo shook her head.

“I don’t think they’re going to answer,” she muttered to the Doctor, and Ada spoke up.

“Little of what you are saying makes sense to me. But I am concerned you will be marooned here,” she said. “When my guardian has returned me-” the Doctor cut her off.

“Those are  _ not _ guardians” Jo nodded in agreement.

“I can offer you my hand,” Ada said, reaching her hand out towards the Doctor. “We can leave this place together,” she said, and the Doctor shook her head.

“I don’t think that’ll work,” she denied, but Ada pressed on.

“How will you know, if you do not try?” she asked, as light began to surround her. Jo gasped as her figure began to warp and twist, grabbing the Doctor’s hand.

“Now or never,” she muttered, reaching for Ada before the Doctor could hesitate further. As the lights continued to surround them, Jo’s face pinched in pain, the tingling returning all around her body, but just as quickly as it came, it was gone, and they were surrounded by gasps.

Jo’s eyes, which had squeezed tightly closed at the pain, gently cracked open, and landed on a crowd surrounding them.  _ So many mutton chops _ …

“I'm getting 19th century. Early with a touch of mid. Top notes of… London? Steam, why'm I getting steam?” the Doctor rambled, and Jo nudged her, pointing at the multitude of early machines surrounding them. Inventors rattled off pitches for their devices, and Ada and the Doctor turned to each other.

“It worked,” the both said together, before turning to the surrounding crowd.

“Miss Gordon?” a man came forward, leaning down to assist Ada in standing. “Are you recovered?” he asked, and she nodded shakily, looking at the Doctor and Jo with a new sense of confusion.

“I am, thank you,” she confirmed.

“Me too, thanks for asking,” The Doctor mumbled, assisting Jo off the ground, and the man turned to them, his face beholding a look of wonderment.

“Ladies, this gallery is full of the extraordinary, but your apparition just now…” he paused, as if searching for the right word, Jo and the Doctor exchanged looks. “It was impossible! How did you do it?” he asked, and as the Doctor floundered for an explanation, Jo stepped up.

“We are bound by the powers that be never to reveal our secrets!” she exclaimed dramatically, giving a twirl.  _ Showbiz, now this is something I can do _ . “Now you may continue on with your day with the knowledge that you can pass on your experience with the wonders that are…” she paused for dramatic effect, seeing the man and the crowd behind him waiting with bated breath for what she would say. “The Splendiferous Apparating Women!” the crowd gave some polite applause, and Jo grinned at the Doctor, who fondly rolled her eyes.

As the crowd dispersed, the Doctor turned to the man who had asked them how they had appeared. 

“Um… the year, right now, would be what?” she asked, and the man looked at her in confusion.

“The year, madam, remains eighteen hundred and thirty four,” he told her, peering at her face as if waiting for the punchline to some joke. There was none.

“Yes,” the Doctor muttered in agreement, her and Jo exchanging worried glances. “Marooned in the 19th century, hang in there, fam,” Jo cringed.

“Lovely,” she muttered. Ada turned to them at that point.

“Now that we are safe, will you reveal a little more concerning how you came to be in that place?” she asked, before pausing to think. “And, indeed, who you are,” she tacked on, and the Doctor nodded.

“Right,” she muttered. Jo shifted on her feet, anxious to see what the Doctor would say. She had a couple of ways she would explain things to people. She could not explain anything at all, and weave a fantastical story that was nowhere near the truth, she could tell parts of the truth but leave out the scary bits, or she could tell the whole truth with little regard to how crazy and terrifying it sounds. “I'm a traveller in space and time. I was in the middle of dealing with a planet-threatening conspiracy two centuries from now, when I was attacked by an old enemy, and exiled to the place where I found you,” option number three it was, then. Ada stared at her, before turning to Jo as if to ask if she bought this. Jo just nodded.

“I am not a fool,” she said, eyes narrowing, and Jo shook her head.

“Of course not! We’re not treating you like one, either!” she said. 

“This conspiracy involves those creatures you think are your guardians. They're in alliance with a renegade from my home planet and a 21st century tech inventor. One hundred and eighty six years from now, they are assassinating spies,” the Doctor continued to explain, and Ada looked on in a mix of baffled confusion and offended disgust, though the latter was quickly fading as she realized that they were in fact telling the truth. “And we’re stuck here, without the TARDIS,” she sighed, and Jo nodded.

“We have to find our way back, before-” she couldn’t finish her thought, however, because she was cut off by a shriek behind them. They all whipped around, the crowd parting to reveal the Master. “Shit,” Jo muttered, and the Master smirked.

“Ladies and gentlemen! See the incredible shrinking device! Want to be smaller ladies? You can!” he said with all the pazazz of a true showman. The Master quickly turned to a woman and blasted her with his TCE. She shrunk down, and the people close to her all let out screams of terror. “Who’s next?” he looked around before stopping on a man who had stood kind of close to the woman. “You, sir!” he exclaimed, laughing in glee as he pointed and fired the TCE at him. The Doctor quickly nudged Ada.

“Run, Ada,” she urged, before turning to the man who had accompanied her. “You too, Go!” she told him, and he wasted no time in fleeing. Ada, however, remained where she stood, watching the scene in front of her with fascination. The Master bent down to pick up the miniaturized man and woman. He held them up with a beaming smile.

“The happy couple!” he said tauntingly, and the Doctor turned to Ada, shoving her with a bit more force.

“I said go!”

“DO NOT MOVE!” the Master shouted, holding his TCE in the air threateningly. Everyone in the gallery froze. “Hands on heads,” he commanded, and the people in the gallery looked at each other confused, before he repeated it, more forceful. “Hands. On. Heads!” he shouted, and everyone was quick to comply. The only people who kept their hands where they had been were Jo and the Doctor. The Master grimaced, stalking towards them with his coat swishing dramatically behind him. The Doctor walked towards him, meeting in the middle, and Jo trailed slightly behind her.

“Let them go,” the Doctor said. “And you can have me,” the Master smirked, leaning close to her for a moment.

“I’ve got you anyway,” quickly, he spun around and pointed the TCE at a random woman. “DID YOU JUST MOVE?” he shouted, and the woman whimpered in fear. “Did you move?” he demanded again, and the woman denied it.

“No! No!” she whimpered, and the Master shrugged, a charming smile appearing on his face.

“Oh, my bad,” he shrugged, pretending to turn back to the Doctor, before seemingly changing his mind and whipping back around, firing the TCE and shrinking the woman.

“Didn’t see that coming at all,” Jo muttered sarcastically, and the Master’s eyes narrowed. He stalked towards her, brushing the Doctor aside for a moment, and stood nose to nose. Well… ish. He was not a tall man, but he still towered over Jo, not that she let this phase her.

“Care to repeat that, pet?” he growled, and Jo rolled her eyes. 

“Well, you’re a psychopath… eh… maybe sociopath, who thrives off predictability and the shock factor in his victims,” she explained, and the Master’s brows furrowed.

“Are you… psychoanalyzing me?” he muttered, and Jo shrugged.

“Can’t help it,” she said. “Anyways, there was no way in hell you would just let that slide, even if she didn’t move, you want to make a point to everyone watching, especially the Doctor,” he leaned closer.

“And what point is that, exactly?” he asked, his voice low, and Jo stood her ground, her neck tilting so she could look him in the eyes. If this had been before-if this had been O, she might have flushed at the proximity. But this wasn’t O.

“You’re dangerous, you’re to be obeyed, and you have no qualms whatsoever with killing those who don’t abide by your rules,” she said, and the Master grinned, stepping back and pointing his TCE at her. The Doctor gasped, but Jo just shrugged. “Go ahead,” she dared him, stepping forward so the TCE touched her chest.

“Jo…” the Doctor warned, but Jo smiled.

“I mean, I’m curious to see if this would actually killed me, nobody’s tried tissue compression yet,” the Master’s face was confused for only a moment before it smoothed over and he stepped back, turning to the Doctor once more. Jo sighed.

“Doctor-” he began, but she cut him off.

“What do you want?” she demanded, and he smirked, pointing the TCE at another random civilian.

“Kneel,” he demanded, and the Doctor held his gaze, remaining where she was. “ _ Kneel _ ,” he repeated, more forceful, before gesturing around the gallery. “Or they all die,” the Doctor held his stare for one more moment before slowly lowering to her knees. The Master grinned, glancing at Jo. “You too, pet,” she sighed, but lowered to her knees as well. The Master leaned down, so he was face to face with the Doctor.

“Call me by my name,” he demanded, and the Doctor paled, almost turning green.

“Master,” she whispered, and he cupped a hand to his ear tauntingly.

“Beg your pardon?” he egged her on.

“Master,” she repeated, her voice marginally louder, and the Master grinned, enjoying the power he held over her in that moment.

“Can’t hear you, luv,” he said, and the Doctor looked as if she would be sick for a moment.

“Master,” she repeated once more, and the Master grinned, crouching in front of her.

“Now, when I arrange for your death, I expect you to stay dead. How did you escape? How did you end up here?” he asked, and the Doctor’s eyes widened with glee.

“You don’t know,” she muttered the realization, and the Master backed up, eyes clouding with confusion. “You're not in control of those creatures. I bet you don't even know what they are,” she accused, and the Master shrugged.

“They're called the Kasaavin. And we have interests in common,” he said casually, and the Doctor scoffed.

“You, Barton and a race you barely know,” she listed off. “That's one uneasy alliance. Trust each other, do you?” she challenged, and the Master growled, obviously growing tired of the conversation.

“Completely. Oh by the way, I bring news from our home-” he began, and both the Doctor and Jo’s eyes widened before-

“Down, Doctor! Jo!” Ada called, and they quickly ducked without question, turning and seeing Ada at the steam gun. She fired off a bullet that the Master barely dodged, and the man who had been running the station gasped.

“That is not designed for use by a young lady!” he exclaimed, and Jo scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“Nothing is!” Ada shot back. “And yet I find myself more than capable,”

“Yass, queen!” Jo muttered with a proud smirk on her face as Ada continued to fire off more bullets. One hit the Master in the shoulder, and he stumbled, face crumpled up in pain.

“All of you, out!” Ada shouted, and the gallery goers quickly vacated the premises, running as quickly as they could.

“Oh, Ada, I really don’t approve-” the Doctor began, but Jo rolled her eyes and nudged her shoulder, seeing the admiration plain on the Doctor’s face.

“Run all you like Doctor!” the Master shouted, face twisted in rage. “You won’t go far without a TARDIS!” Ada picked up a grenade, and Jo grinned as she took out the pin and rolled it towards the Master.

“Don’t have a TARDIS,” the Doctor agreed, a grin on her face as well. “Do have an Ada!” and with that they ran from the gallery.


	6. Chapter 6

Jo watched the man enviously as he poured himself a glass of brandy. She was standing to the side with Ada and the Doctor, and he was helping himself to some alcohol. She had no issue with this as a concept, but seeing as this was the ‘early-with-a-touch-of-mid’ nineteenth century, she doubted he would be inclined to share his alcohol with her.

“Surely we must alert the authorities,” he said, turning to the women with a tumbler in his hand.

“The authorities won’t be any help,” the Doctor denied with a shake of her head, and Jo nodded in agreement.

“Besides, what would we tell them, Mr. Babbage?” Ada added, and the man shook his head, widening his eyes. The Doctor and Jo shared a look at the sound of his name.

“I have no concept, Ada. I cannot explain any of what I have seen today-” he replied, but the Doctor cut him off.

“Babbage,” she said. “Charles Babbage?” the man nodded.

“Yes,” he confirmed, and the Doctor and Jo grinned, turning to look at the unfinished machine in the room.

“So this must be-” Jo began, but cut herself off. They had no idea how far into the process he and Ada were.

“My difference engine,” Charles said, and the Doctor and Jo shared another look.

“ _Your_ difference engine,” Jo muttered.

“Oh, you know of it?” Charles’ voice had a touch of pride in it.

“In passing,” the Doctor confirmed, and he bowled on.

“As yet unfinished, it will count and perform quadratic equations,” he said proudly, and the Doctor grinned once more.

“If you're Charles Babbage,” she pointed to the man before turning to Ada. “You're not just any old Ada. You're Ada Lovelace. Daughter of Lord Byron and Annabella Millbanke. One of the great minds!” she said excitedly, but Ada’s brows pinched together in confusion.

“I am Ada _Gordon_ , Madam,” she corrected, and Jo cringed at the slip up.

“1834,” she hissed to the Doctor, who’s mouthed ‘ _oh_ ’.

“Of course you are, but maybe one day, who knows, you might meet a nice Earl. Oh this changes everything. This isn't an accident. Ada Lovelace, in Babbage's house. You're clues. You're important!” she rambled on, and Jo decided she would give up trying to stop the Doctor from revealing too much. Her eyes moved on from the unfinished Difference Engine, and travelled around the parlor.

“I am delighted to hear it, Madam,” Charles spoke, and the Doctor turned to him with a grimace.

“Yeah, it’s not good news,” she muttered. 

“What’s that?” Jo asked, pointing at a silver statue encased in glass. It appeared to be a dancing woman. It seemed familiar, and Jo couldn’t quite place it.

“Barton’s office,” the Doctor murmured to her, quiet enough that the others wouldn’t be able to hear, and Jo nodded, now remembering the photo of it in Barton’s office.

“This is the Silver Lady. A revolutionary piece of engineering!” Charles answered. “But like all great ladies, she is as much for decoration as for purpose,” he grinned hawkishly at them, and all three of the women in the room shifted uncomfortably, sharing awkward glances.

“How did you come by this?” the Doctor asked, moving on instead of addressing the era-typical sexism.

“It was a gift. Delivered by a young man, who said it was a token of appreciation. From his master,” Charles explained, and both Jo and the Doctor cringed.

“Of course it was,” Jo muttered.

“Was it,” the Doctor muttered darkly, before her face smoothed over. “What does it do?” she asked, and moved over to where a notebook lay open on a desk.

“It moves, and on occasion, projects,” Charles answered, and the Doctor picked up the notebook.

“On occasion, projects something like this?” she asked, holding up the notebook, showing a sketch of a Kasaavin. Ada gasped, stepping forward to look closer at the notebook.

“Mr. Babbage, you have seen the same form-” she began, but Charles didn’t let her finish, snatching the notebook out of the Doctor’s hands and stepping away.

“Madam, those are my private notes!” he exclaimed, but the Doctor ignored him, turning to Jo.

“The Master and the Kasaavin, what are they doing?” she asked, though she knew neither of them had the answer yet.

“Do you understand her, Miss Gordon?” Charles asked, to which the young woman shook her head.

“Not in the least, Mr. Babbage,” she answered. The Doctor turned to Ada.

“Ada, when was your first paralysis?” she asked, and Ada barely had to think.

“I was thirteen years old,” she answered. “That is when I was first transported, to the place where we met. Where I first saw an apparition,” she explained, and the Doctor looked like she was starting to connect the dots. Jo, however, was still pretty lost.

“And over the years, the paralysis recurs, with the same effect,” she said, and Ada nodded.

“Yes,” she confirmed. “No doctor has ever been able to diagnose the cause,” she sounded a bit forlorn at that, and the Doctor grinned.

“Well, this Doctor may be able to,” she turned to Jo expectantly at the pun, but Jo just raised her eyebrows, unimpressed. The Doctor cleared her throat, turning to the Silver Lady. “An apparition, from this machine?” she asked, and Charles nodded.

“Correct,” he confirmed. The Doctor felt along the side of the statue, and flipped a switch when she found it. The Silver Lady began to rotate, and the Doctor verbalized her thought process.

“So, they take you Ada, multiple times, from here and they study you, in their dimension, which means they can't stay in this dimension for too long,” she muttered, glancing at Ada, and Jo stepped closer to the Doctor, knowing that if a Kasaavin appeared, she would be prone once more. “But maybe they gain an ally. A mastermind. Who builds them a machine, which stabilises them in this world,” the Doctor continued, and Jo resisted the urge to take out her sonic and scan the statue, not wanting to have to explain yet another thing to Babbage. She had a feeling it would be fine with just Ada, but men in this century never let women have groundbreaking technology. “Long enough for them to send spies and to spread their work and start a plan,” the Doctor whipped around from the Silver Lady to face Ada and Charles. “Cause I’ve seen the map. In his hut. Multiple Earths. Except not. Not multiple Earths, multiple time periods,” Jo rolled her eyes at this.

“That’s what I said,” she muttered, but the Doctor only glanced at her before continuing.

“These creatures aren’t just alien spies on Earth. They're spies through time. Through history. Starting with you,” she looked at Ada, and Jo tensed, beginning to feel the tingling she had first felt back in Australia.

“Doctor-” she began to warn, and the silhouette appeared before she could continue, causing Jo to hiss at the pain, unable to complete her sentence. The Doctor put a steadying hand on her shoulder.

“That man at the Adelaide Gallery will be coming for me. I need to get back to where I came from -- find my friends and figure this out. And I’ve only got one way out of here. The same way I came in. If I use my sonic on the silver lady, I might be able to force this creature to throw me back to the 21st Century,” the Doctor explained, before a look of doubt crossed her face. “I hope,”  
“You _hope_?!” Jo hissed out through gritted teeth, and the Doctor gave her a sheepish smile.

“If this is your plan, it is fraught with risk,” Ada cautioned, but the Doctor grinned.

“Where there’s risk, there’s hope,” she countered, turning back to the Kasaavin. “Deep breath,” she sighed, both to herself and Jo, before running at the silhouette, holding on to Jo’s hand so she stumbled behind the timelord. At the very last moment, right before they reached the silhouette, Ada grabbed the Doctor’s free hand. Her eyes widened. “Ada, no-” but it was too late, their momentum carried them all into the Kasaavin, and with a muted whooshing sound, they blinked out of existence.

* * *

“What?” the Doctor muttered from her spot on the ground, and she sat up, looking around. Gunfire could be heard in the distance, thought not distant enough in her opinion. “No!” she gasped, seeing the buildings around her. Definitely not 21st century England. Or 21st century at all. She turned to Jo and Ada, both of whom were still unconscious. “Jo,” she muttered, shaking the woman, who awoke with a groan.

“Where are we?” she asked as she slowly sat up, Ada sitting up with her.

“Are we safe?” Ada added, but before the Doctor could answer they heard footsteps coming in their direction.

“Don’t move!” A woman’s voice sounded, and the trio whipped their heads around, looking for whoever had spoken. “I said don’t move!” she repeated, and they froze. The woman finally stepped into the light. She was dressed in clothing typical of the late 1930s and into the 40s, and she held herself as if she was expecting them to attack her at any moment.

“We're not hostile. We're here by accident!” the Doctor was quick to assure her, and the woman stepped forward, peering at them all quizzically.

“What’re you doing here?” she asked, before glancing at Ada. “And what’re you wearing?” her gaze moved from Ada, who was in her early/mid 1800s dress, to Jo, who was still dressed in her formal wear from Barton's party, and finally to the Doctor, in her black suit and tie.

“What are those noises?” Ada asked, flinching as more gunfire rang out around them, and the Doctor stepped toward the woman who had appeared.

“Where are we, and when?” she asked, and the woman looked at her in confusion.

“Don’t you know?” she asked, and the Doctor shook her head.

“Just landed, concussion,” she played it off. “Humor me,” The woman took a deep breath before responding.

“Paris, 1943,” she answered, and Jo cringed, looking at the Doctor with wide eyes.

“That’s not good,” she muttered, and the Doctor nodded in agreement. All of a sudden an engine sounded, and the woman’s eyes widened. “It’s a patrol!” she gasped, looking at the three women in front of her. “Inside, quick! It’s not safe!” she bade them, leading them to a nearby house. They all turned to watch from a safe hiding place when a truck pulled up. Half a dozen German soldiers got out, beginning a quick search of the block. Their senior officer stepped out behind them, and Jo had to muffle her gasp with her hand when she saw his face.

He pulled out a small device glancing at it before looking up.

“I know you’re here, and I will find you,” he promised, looking around. Jo thought for a moment that their eyes met, and she froze, holding her breath, but his eyes moved on, and Jo breathed out in relief. False alarm. “Especially you, Doctor,” he said, voice low and dark. “Coming, ready or not,”.

After the patrol had moved on, the woman led Jo, Ada, and the Doctor to her apartment.

“Of course he’s a nazi,” Jo hissed to the Doctor who shook her head.

“I don’t think he actually shares their ideals,” she murmured back.

“But he’s still wearing the uniform,” Jo countered, and the Doctor had no defense for that. The woman raced to a window, looking out and seeing the soldiers enter the building. She turned to the others. 

“You must hide, quickly,” she demanded, pulling up a couple loose floorboards and gesturing for them to get under. They quickly did as she said, climbing into the small crawl space and watching with bated breath as the woman replaced the floorboards.

Not even a minute later the nazi soldiers burst through the door, prompting the woman to look up from her journal in which she had been writing.

“Yes?” she asked, but got no answer. Heavy bootfalls sounded, and the Master came into the apartment, looking around. “You’re new,” she observed, but he ignored her.

Under the floorboards, the Doctor nudged Jo, who turned to look at her, a questioning look on her face. The Doctor gestured above their heads, and Jo glanced up, holding in a gasp when she saw the radio equipment stored with them. She then looked to Ada, who was terrified, and she held her finger to her lips, telling her to remain silent.

All three of them jumped at the sound of gunfire inside the apartment, but remained silent, waiting for the soldiers to leave. Jo could’ve cried when the door closed behind them, but it was quickly slammed open once more, the Master peeking back in after the fakeout, only to see nothing. The door closed once more, and the Master left for good this time. The desk that the woman had moved to be directly over them was quickly moved out of the way, and she scrambled to lift the floorboards.

“You’re a lifesaver,” Jo breathed, glad they had run into an Ally. The Doctor nodded, looking at the woman more closely.

“Got some interesting stuff under the floorboards here? Wireless radio equipment, as issued by the British Special Operations Executive. Very distinct, very large and very difficult to hide. You're not Parisian. You're a British spy -- I know that face!” she gasped. “Code-name Madeleine. Real name: Noor Inayat Khan. The first female wireless operator to be dropped behind enemy lines. Very nice to meet you. I'm not where I wanted to be, but I can work with this,” Jo smiled as she heard who they had run into. The Doctor turned her head to grin at Ada. “Ada, wait till you hear about Noor. She's as impressive as you. You grabbing my hand threw us off course, spat us out here!” she explained, and Ada nodded, though it looked like she was a bit distracted.

“I should like to come out of the floor now,” she said, and Jo giggled a bit.


	7. Chapter 7

After Noor finally assisted the trio out from under the floorboards, she barely gave them time to gather their bearings. Jo had barely shoved her knife, which she had been palming since the Master had come in with the Nazis, back in a compartment in her boots, before Noor was questioning them.

“Who are you? How do you know so much about me?” And, tacked on as an afterthought: “And why are you all wearing such strange clothes?” she demanded.

“That soldier’s voice,” Ada turned to Jo and the Doctor. “He was in the Adelaide gallery, how can he be here?”

“He’s in league with the Kasaavin,” the Doctor answered, but Ada just gave her a blank stare.

“Those creatures of light who you thought were your  _ guardians _ ,” Jo piped up, and Ada nodded, shooting her a thankful look for the explanation.

“ I'd hoped to get back to their home dimension, where we met. And then to the 21st century. But we ended up here instead,” the Doctor explained, but at the crestfallen look on both hers and Ada’s faces, Jo spoke once more.

“But hey, we went from 19th to 20th, so that’s progress, yeah?” the Doctor nodded.

“But the Master tracked us down, and he wants us dead,” the Doctor said, grimacing. “Whereas I am a big fan of being alive,” Ada walked over to the window, and Jo put a hand on her face, thinking.

“But how did he track us here specifically?” she asked, to which the Doctor shrugged. “Do the Kasaavin leave some sort of residual energy?”

“They can’t,” the Doctor shot that down. “Not if the sonic can’t pick it up,” that was when they both noticed the bewildered expression on Ada’s face. She looked confused, in awe but also terribly sad all at once. “Ada?”

“You okay?” Jo asked, and Ada barely glanced at them, hesitant to tear her gaze from the window.

“I’ve always wanted to return to Paris,” she murmured, to which Noor frowned deeply.

“Not at its best,” she cringed. “Nightly bombing raids. Millions dead. They promised us, war on this scale would happen again. And yet, here we are,” she stepped up next to Ada, her face crushed as she gazed out the window as well. Ada’s eyes widened, and she turned from the window to Noor.

“This is not the first time?” she asked, and Jo felt the urge to hug the young woman at the look of fear and devastation on her face. Noor turned from the window, confused. 

“Who are you people?” she asked, bewildered as to how someone wouldn’t know about the Great War.

“We’re your allies, I promise,” the Doctor assured her, and Ada turned so her back was to the window. She looked as if tears were about to fall, and Jo opened her arms, offering the woman a hug, if she wished. Ada fell into her, wrapping her arms around the shorter woman tightly. Jo didn’t comment on the slight wetness she felt on her neck.

“This is the future?” Ada asked, her voice broken. “A world on fire?” the Doctor nodded, though Ada’s face was buried in Jo’s hair, so she couldn’t see.

“These are the dark times,” the Doctor said. “But they don’t sustain, darkness never does,” she promised, before turning to Noor. “Even though sometimes it feels like it might,” she let that sink in for only a moment before stepping back, her thinking face on. “Alright, need to turn this to our advantage, throw the Master off our trail,” she muttered to herself. “He's masquerading as a German soldier. That's low even for him,” she grimaced, before turning to Noor. Ada stepped away from Jo, her broken face turning to a bewildered one as she watched the Doctor think and assess their assets. “Code-name Madeleine: what equipment do you have?” she demanded, and Noor shrugged.

“Only my radio equipment,” she said. “No gun, no cyanide pill, I’m a pacifist,” Jo smiled slightly, the Doctor would be happy to hear that.

“Snap!” she was correct, the Doctor grinning. “Strong position to take in wartime. Two pacifists, a genius anomaly, and a 19th century descendant of Byron against the Nazis in Paris,” she began to pace, trying to think of a plan.

“And an alien invasion across multiple dimensions,” Jo piped up, grinning when the Doctor glared at her.

“Yes, thanks,” she grimaced. “That’s a big to-do list,” she stopped her pacing then, and turned to face Noor and Ada. “And you two brilliant people play a big part in it!”

* * *

Less than fifteen minutes later, Noor had her radio equipment out from under the floorboards, running and ready for the Doctor’s message.

The Doctor sat in front of the radio, her finger on the button, and began tapping out her message. A series of four beats, over and over.

“That’s not a code,” Noor accused, but Jo shook her head.

“That’s your heartbeat,” she said, and the Doctor looked up, grinning at her and nodding.

“Very good, Jo!” she glanced at the other two, a proud smile on her face. “This is why I keep her around, very perceptive,” Jo rolled her eyes. The Doctor then explained to Noor and Ada what she was doing. “This is a very personal message, and if it works, I’m going to need you to find something for me,” after only a moment, she got a reply.

Four beats sounded back through the radio, and the Doctor nodded with a smile, glad her plan had worked thus far.

“That got his attention,” she said, closing her eyes and focusing. “He’s not so far, I can sense him,” after a moment, her entire body stilled. “Contact,”

“What is she doing?” Noor asked, reaching out to touch the Doctor’s shoulder, but Jo batted her hand away.

“She’s contacting him,”

“Him?” Ada asked. “The man from the gallery?” Jo nodded in confirmation. “Why?”

“I don’t know, a diversion, maybe?” Jo threw out, and Noor and Ada’s faces pinched. 

“You don’t know her plan?” Noor accused, and Jo shrugged.

“I mean, it’s not like we’re psychically linked,” she defended.  _ Though we have been before. _ “I don’t know what goes through her head,”

* * *

The Doctor’s eyes were closed tight as she forged the connection with her old friend.

“Contact,” his voice rang in her head. “Old school,”

“You’re not the only one who can do classic,” she shot back, and she could almost feel the Master’s begrudging amusement at that comment.

“How’re you holding up?” his voice held faux sympathy for a moment, before he dug the knife in. “Without a TARDIS. Or your friends. Or a hope. A fugitive in time,” he taunted, pausing as if in thought before he added. “Well, suppose you got Jo, though I don’t think she’ll be much help,”

“Don’t underestimate her,” the Doctor shot back, and the Master had no response to that. Perhaps he deemed it wasn’t even worth one. “You've come all this way. You've got me cornered. I'll meet you. No troops, no soldiers. Just us,” she demanded, and there was a pause while the Master thought about it. He wasn’t considering it, not really, he already knew he would meet her. But he was a drama queen at heart, and he would do all in his power to build the tension.

“Where?” he asked.

“Where d’you think?” she fired back, tone painfully sarcastic.

* * *

The Doctor made it to the Eiffel Tower in no time, having filled Jo, Noor, and Ada in on the plan and given them their jobs.

“Cold up here,” she said when the Master came into view. “Worse than Jodrell bank,”

“Did I ever apologize for that?” he asked, faking guilt.

“No,”

“Good,” his lips twitched up in a little smirk before he was scowling again. The Doctor began walking, not wanting to be pressed up against the edge by him. The two best enemies circled each other, eyes never straying from the other.

“How’s the shoulder?” she asked, to which the Master scoffed.

“Painful,”

“Don't like what you’re wearing. Or the company you keep. How've you managed that? You're not exactly their Aryan archetype,” she asked, squinting her eyes at him, and he shrugged.

“Tiny Teutonic psychic-perception filter. Learned it at school. Let’s people see what they want to see,” he explained, tapping his temple with a grin, and the Doctor raised her eyebrows, unimpressed.

“I’m assuming it was you who hijacked the car,” she said, to which the Master nodded, a grin appearing on his face once more.

“That was fun,”

“And assassinated C,”

“Mandraffian laser rifle. One shot. Still got an eye for it,” he smirked, miming shooting a sniper rifle.

“Why were the Kasaavin assassinating spies?” the Doctor pressed, knowing that he thought he had her. At this point he’d have no qualms sharing his  _ master _ plan. Pun totally intended.

“Earth's intelligence services… starting to realise their presence,” he grimaced at the thought of humans being perceptive enough for that.

“So what…” the Doctor began. “You brought the Kasaavin to Earth?” The Master shook his head, chuckling.

“They were already here,” he said. “ I just persuaded them we had interests in common. The Kasaavin are embedded across the whole of this universe. Spies from another dimension,” he smirked, admiring the brilliance of the species’ hostile takeover bid. “As I said to Mr Barton, think of them as Russia. But bigger. Sleeper agents everywhere, waiting to be activated. Amassing information in case they need to attack,” he paused, planting his feet, causing the two to stop circling each other. “And you know me. I can't help myself. Have to stick my oar in,” the Doctor’s eyes narrowed.

“What have you done?”

“Suggested a better plan,” he shrugged.

* * *

While the Doctor went to the meeting point with the Master, Noor, Jo, and Ada sat in Noor’s apartment.

“What are you doing?” Ada asked.

“Communicating a message back to London. Just as the Doctor asked,” Noor answered, before biting her lip and turning to Ada. “Why are we trusting her?” Ada smiled before responding.

“I have seen extraordinary things with her. She is wise and unafraid. And I believe in her,” she answered, before holding up a cell phone that the Doctor had handed them. “What is this contraption she’s left us with?” she asked, and both her and Noor turned to Jo.

“It’s a cellphone,” she answered. “Noor, you know what a telephone is, yes?” she nodded. “It’s a small, portable telephone,” Ada was still completely lost. “It uses tiny signals that go through the air to allow people to communicate across long distances,” Jo explained, grimacing as she knew she was botching the explanation.

“So you know the Doctor,” Noor said hesitantly to Jo after a moment, standing and pulling her coat on. “And you trust her?” Jo nodded wholeheartedly.

“Of course,” she answered. “I’ve known her for hundreds of years and she’s never let the bad guys win,” both Noor and Ada stared at her for a moment, and Jo tilted her head. “What?” she realized her slip up. “Oh, well-” she giggled nervously. “You see, I can’t die, as in I have died before and I always end up waking up, and I stopped aging when I was…” she thought for a moment. “25? That sounds about right,” Noor and Ada’s jaws dropped. “The Doctor’s older than me, though,” she said, and Noor and Ada exchanged looks once more.

“That’s crazy,” Noor breathed, and Ada nodded.

“Definitely,” Jo giggled.

“So, are we ready to brave the night?” she asked, opening the door for the ladies, who nodded. They all exited the apartment and began to search the Paris streets, Noor and Ada occasionally asking Jo questions about the Doctor or her immortality.

It didn’t take them long to find what they were looking for, and Jo snorted with laughter at the sight of it: O’s hut.

“He didn’t even use the chameleon circuit,” she shook her head, a bit disappointed, before turning to Ada. “Press the button,” she pointed to the cellphone, which Ada held in her hand, and she did so.

“What do we do now?” Noor asked, and Jo walked up to the door, taking her sonic out of her pocket.

“We go in, of course,” she smirked, pressing the button and waiting to hear the TARDIS unlock for them. “Please?” she pouted at the TARDIS, and after another moment, the door opened, and Jo ushered Ada and Noor through. “May I have the phone back?” she asked Ada, who nodded, and handed her the device. Jo immediately held it up to her ear, wanting to listen in on the Doctor and Master’s conversation.

* * *

A ringtone sounded, and both the Master and the Doctor jumped. The Doctor turned from the Master, pulling out her sonic and pressing a button, getting the ringtone to stop.

“Must change the ringtone. Sent it to voicemail,” she said with a shrug. “ Probably just asking if I've had an accident in the past five years. They hate it when you give 'em a list though, don’t they?” she rambled, fiddling with the sonic, and the Master rolled his eyes.

“Why didn’t you die when the Kasaavin attacked you?” he demanded, his face twisted in a snarl.

“Me, Jo and Yaz, all time travellers, fizzing with artron energy, and my DNA not matching the rest of humanity. We confused them, and I don't think they're as stable in this dimension as they'd like,” the Doctor answered. “What deal have you made with them?” she asked and the Master shook his head.

“Answer me this, first,” he said, stepping closer to her. “Who is Jo?” the Doctor took a step back, confused at the change of topic. The Master loved to talk about himself, and his plans, so him putting that aside to ask about Jo was strange.

“What?”

“Who is Jo?” he repeated, and she shrugged with a small smile.

“Honestly? No idea,” she told him, and the Master growled.

“Don’t toy with me, Doctor,”

“I’m not!” she quickly held up her hands. “I’ve known her for over 800 years and neither of us have a clue!” the Master’s eyes widened.

“So that’s the ‘nonhuman’ trait,” he muttered, and the Doctor shrugged.

“I suppose,”

“But she doesn’t know why?”

“She thought she was human,” the Doctor said. “Then she stopped aging,” she paused, a fond smile coming to her face. “You know we just celebrated her 854th birthday last month,”

“How… interesting,” the Master smirked, and the Doctor shook her head, her eyes narrowing. 

“You stay away from her,” she warned, squaring her shoulders, and the Master laughed.

“Or what?” he countered. “You’ll come after me?” he laughed. “Hate to break it to you Doctor, but you’ve lost! Barton and the Kasaavin, that’s all it took to lay the perfect trap! And you fell right into it! All I had to do was provide them the vision,” his smile spread from ear to ear, and the Doctor shifted uncomfortably.

“And what is your vision?” all joy fled from the Master’s face, and he stepped towards her, so that they were nose to nose.

“Maximum carnage,” he uttered, and the Doctor flinched.

“I don’t understand,” 

“I know you don't,” he smiled gleefully at the thought. “But you will and of course the best things is, everyone loses except me. Barton and those creatures do the dirty work. Once they're done, I get rid of them, having destroyed your precious human race in the process. Win win win,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jo's secret is finally revealed!!


	8. Chapter 8

The Doctor didn’t take too long to get to the TARDIS, for which Jo was thankful. It was unsettling to be in O’s hut. What was once charming now made her almost want to throw up. She came running through the door, and Jo grinned, standing and walking to greet her.

“What’s up, Doc?” the Doctor rolled her eyes with a fond smile at Jo’s line. They couldn’t go a week without Jo saying it.

“Doctor, why is this house so important?” Ada asked, and the Doctor grinned.

“Because it's not a house. It's a machine that travels in space and time. This is my way back, to finding my friends and saving humanity-” she cut herself off, seeing the looks Ada and Noor were giving her. She looked to Jo for support, who nodded.

“She’s telling the truth,” she said, and Ada and Noor looked to her. “We’re not crazy!” she paused, sharing a look with the Doctor. “Well, okay, we are, but not because of this!” she amended, and the Doctor nodded.

“Give us 5 minutes, and you’ll see!” she promised, before turning to look at the map they had seen earlier, which the Master hadn’t bothered to take down. “ I know what this is. A temporal map, showing every significant person in the development of computers through history,” she began, before turning to Ada. “starting with you!” Jo grinned. There was something about watching the Doctor sort through a problem that always made her feel empowered. “This is the plan, see?” she looked to the two women, who continued to stare at her with blank faces.

“No,” they said together, and the Doctor grimaced. Jo giggled.

“Did you expect them to?” she asked, and the Doctor shrugged. “That isn’t a dig at your intelligence, by the way, you just haven’t dealt with any of this stuff before,” Jo said to the two women, not wanting them to think she saw them as stupid or anything.

“What is a  _ computer _ ?” Ada asked, and Jo shot the Doctor a glare.

“Forget you heard that word! Otherwise I've just disrupted the whole of history!” the Doctor exclaimed, and Jo coughed into her hand.

“Again,” the Doctor shot her a glare, though there was no fire behind it.

“Okay, ahh, my brain’s fizzing, good. The Kasaavin posted an agent on every person on that map. Because that's what spies do. What Barton does. They gather all the data,” the Doctor began to pace, trying to put all the puzzle pieces together in that big brain of hers. “But where does the DNA fit?” she looked to Jo, but all she could do was shrug. She was at a loss. “Kasaavin, technology, DNA. How are they all connected?” she continued to pace for a moment, before coming to an abrupt stop. She turned to Jo with a look of horror on her face. “Human DNA!” she gasped. “That’s what they’ve been testing!” with that she ran to the TARDIS controls, and began to frantically flip levers and push buttons. The Master’s TARDIS was much quieter than hers, instead of the loud wheezing that accompanied Sexy, the Master’s TARDIS sounded more like a continuous hum.

“I bet they started with Barton,” Jo said, coming to the Doctor’s side to help manage the controls. Noor turned to Ada, a look of bewilderment on her face.

“How much of that did you understand?” she asked, and Jo laughed as she looked over her shoulder at them.

“If you understood around 5%, you’re doing great!” she encouraged, and Noor and Ada exchanged another look of uncertainty.

“Where to first?” Jo asked, and the Doctor grinned.

“We have a TARDIS with a working chameleon circuit,” she said excitedly. “We’re breaking into Barton’s office!” with that, she yanked down hard on a lever, and the TARDIS was sent flying through the vortex. They could all see the flashing, swirling lights out the window, and Noor and Ada both ran to the window, looking out to try and see what was happening.

“What is this?” Ada asked, and Jo approached them, looking out the window as well.

“The Time Vortex,” she told them. “Right now, we’re traveling 76 years into the future to stop the Kasaavin from taking the universe,” Ada and Noor both looked at her in shock, though at this point they seemed to at least believe her.

* * *

The Doctor landed the TARDIS near a flight hangar, and all four of them exited, looking around.

“So?” Jo asked, turning to the Doctor, and she pointed ahead of them, where they could see someone’s tailcoat flapping behind them as they entered a building. “Is it him?” the Doctor nodded in confirmation, before beginning to walk to the warehouse.

“Let’s go!” she exclaimed, grabbing Ada and Noor’s hands and striding forward to confront the Master. Jo followed along, straining her ears to hear what was being said in the warehouse when they were close enough.

“-live through the 20th century?” that was the Master. “The places I've escaped from. Still just in time to watch you all pay!” he sounded like there was a grin on his face, and the Doctor stopped just before the entrance to the hangar.

“What’s that machine?” Ryan asked, and Jo glanced at the Doctor.

“The fam’s here?” she whispered, and the Doctor nodded.

“Quite independent, that lot,” she muttered back, and Jo’s lips quirked up in a smirk.

“Conversion and transmission. We're transmitting Kasaavin energy around the world all at once, into every device, hitting every human being and erasing their DNA. Simultaneously,” the Master exclaimed, and all of a sudden they heard Ryan shout.

“Yaz!” Jo peeked her head out just enough to see what was going on, and she had to muffle a gasp behind her hand when she saw a white light escaping from a tablet and crawling up Yaz’s arm.

“I can’t let go of it!” she shouted, her body shaking.

“First her,” the Master said, pointing to Yaz. “Then you,” to Graham. “Then you,” and finally to Ryan. It would have been quite terrifying, if the Silver Lady, which sat just behind Yaz, seemed to short circuit, powering down. The Master growled, approaching the statue. “Don’t do this!” he shouted pleadingly, but it laid dormant, smoke coming out the bottom of it.

“Sorry, I think that might’ve been me,” the Doctor said, striding out of their hiding plot and into plain sight. Noor and Ada followed just behind her, and Jo ran to Yaz, throwing the tablet she had been holding to the ground and examining her arm. She took out her sonic and quickly scanned Yaz’s arm, not seeing anything out of the ordinary.

“Are you alright?” she muttered, and Yaz nodded.

“And I’ll admit, it was close,” the Doctor grinned, and the Master snarled, shoulders sagging in defeat.

“No,” he muttered.

“Two can play at embedding things in history,” the Doctor said, and the Master’s glare twitched from her to Jo and back again. “I knew the Silver Lady was important, that you'd built it for a reason. But I couldn't work out why. So I traced its movements through history. When I saw Barton now owned it, we stopped off in his office. Middle of last year. Using your Tardis,” that just rubbed salt in the wound.

“Kick a man while he’s down,” Jo muttered, the Master turning slightly to direct all his fury at her. “Harsh,” she mostly ignored the Master, trying very hard not to look him in the eye. She had held herself well in the gallery, but it was still difficult not to see O in him. Kasaavin began to flood out of the machine, and suddenly Jo didn’t have to worry about trying not to look at the Master anymore, because she screeched in pure agony, collapsing to her knees. Yaz crouched down beside her, gripping her shoulder and rubbing comfortingly, though it did little to help.

“I built in a failsafe to that machine. Planted a virus, if it ever detected the massing of a Kasaavin army in its systems. Total shutdown,” the Doctor explained, glancing worriedly at Jo. “Though I never figured out why that happens,” she grimaced, imagining the pain Jo must be in. The Master chuckled at the sight of the Kasaavin.

“You’re gonna have to explain your actions to them, Doctor,” he said darkly, but the Doctor just smirked, tilting her head to the side.

“Am I?” she countered as Jo began to stand with Yaz’s help. The tingles were all over her body, but she fought through it so she could keep an eye on things. The Doctor addressed the Kasaavin then. “ Listen you lot. I’ve rigged the Silver Lady to exile you back to your own dimension. This planet is off limits. And that deal he did with you?” she brought out her sonic screwdriver, and held it up, pressing the button, and a recording rang through the warehouse. It was the Master’s voice.

“ _ Barton and those creatures do the dirty work and once they are done I get rid of them having destroy your precious human race in the process. Win, win, win. _ ” The Master’s face fell at the sound of that.

“Ohh,” he muttered, beginning to back away from the Kasaavin, who had turned to him. The Doctor smirked.

“That’s your name,” she said. “Don’t wear it out,” the Kasaavin began to mass together, closing in on the Master, and the Doctor continued. “That's the trouble with modern technology. Never know when you're being spied upon,” the Master growled, beginning to stalk towards the Doctor.

“No!” he shouted, reaching out towards her, but Jo grit her teeth and pulled her knife from her boot. In less than a second it had flown across the room and lodged in the Master’s hand. He pulled back from the Doctor with a shout of pain, and looked at her with wide, crazed eyes. In fact, everyone in the warehouse looked at her with wide eyes, shocked that she had done that, and shocked that she had been able to do that through her pain. In a blaze of light, the Kasaavin descended on the Master, surrounding him as he screamed, before blinking out of existence.

The remaining people in the warehouse stared at each other for a moment, and Jo’s shoulders sagged in relief at the loss of the excruciating pain. Her eyes zeroed in on a body, facedown in front of the Silver Lady’s case.

“Who’s that?” she asked cautiously, pointing at her, and Ryan grimaced.

“Barton’s mum,” he answered, and Jo’s eyes widened.

“He killed his own mother?” Ryan nodded. “That’s sick,” again, the fam nodded. They then all turned to the Doctor, who tilted her head.

“What?!” she asked, and Yaz crossed her arms over her chest.

“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” she said, and Graham nodded.

“Like what?” the Doctor asked, and Graham pointed at Ada and Noor, who still stood slightly behind her.

“Like who are they?” he asked. “Are we being replaced?!” Jo giggled at that.

“No! This is Ada, this is Noor. 1834. 1943. Helped me out,” the Doctor said with a shrug. The women both raised their hands in an awkward wave, smiling ‘hello’ at the fam. “I’m dropping ‘em back in a second,”

“How did you manage to save our lives on the plane?” Ryan asked, and the Doctor and Jo looked at each other for a moment, both of their eyes wide.

“Shit,” Jo muttered, racing to the TARDIS, and the Doctor nodded, racing after her.

“Be right back!” she called over her shoulder to the fam, grabbing Ada and Noor’s hands on the way.

* * *

Jo positioned the camera with a slight smile, pressing record and hopping on frame with the Doctor.

“Welcome aboard!” the Doctor greeted, and Jo gave a dramatic wave.

“You must have  _ a lot _ of question!” Jo added, and the Doctor nodded, pausing for a moment before smiling.

“First of all, you're not gonna die. Second of all, don't talk to the screens, obviously I'm a recording and can't hear you. Third, don't panic. Especially you Graham,” she pointed at the camera, and Jo smirked slightly. After another moment’s pause, the Doctor spoke again. “Yes you were,” she said, and Jo giggled.

“She  _ just _ said don’t talk back to the screens!” she exclaimed, rolling her eyes playfully. Jo tapped her wrist, signalling to the Doctor and she nodded.

“Right! Haven't got long. The bomb in the cockpit knocked out the signals from the computer to the engines. But the computers on this aircraft aren't in the cockpit, they're under the cabin floor. Ryan, the app should've opened. Use it to communicate with the engines via the aircraft wiring,” Jo piped up at this point

“By the way, you have shut the cockpit door, haven't you?” she asked with raised eyebrows. “That’s very important, their designed to withstand basically anything,”

“Now, pay attention and do this fast, worried you might lose me if there's a power surge,” the Doctor began. “Don’t tap the buttons too many times, that’ll cause you to dive,”

“Focus on levelling out,” Jo added. “Then the plane’s pre programmed flight plan should kick in,”

“We’ll see you guys soon!” the Doctor said.

“You got this!” Jo gave them a thumbs up before turning off the camera. She turned to the Doctor.

“What’re the odds they actually see the whole video?” she asked, and the Doctor shrugged.

“5%? Maybe?” she answered, and Jo giggled, rolling her eyes.

“Of course,”

* * *

After they had finished putting everything in place to save the fam, it was time to drop Noor and Ada off. The Doctor went outside with Noor, while Jo stayed inside the TARDIS with Ada.

“This one is so much different,” Ada said, looking around the Doctor’s TARDIS, and Jo nodded.

“Yeah, she’s got a mind of her own,”

“She?” Ada looked over at Jo in surprise, but she just shrugged.

“Well, yeah,” she muttered. “People call ships ‘she’, right? Countries, weapons, anything really,” she said, and Ada nodded.

“I see,”  
“No you don’t,” Jo giggled, and Ada gave her a small smile.

“No, I don’t,” she admitted, before bursting out in a fit of giggles as well.

“Glad to see you two having a good time!” the Doctor exclaimed, walking into the TARDIS, and Jo nodded, standing and going to the opposite side of the controls from the Doctor.

“To 1834!” Jo exclaimed, pressing a couple buttons on her side while the Doctor did her part. Ada watched the work in tandem, a look of awe on her face.

They materialized in Charles Babbage’s parlor, and all three of them stepped out. Ada turned to the Doctor, a sad look on her face.

“Doctor, does this have to be the end?” she asked. “All the things I've learned with you and Jo; the advances, the machines. I would dearly love to see more,” she pled, and the Doctor and Jo exchanged a sad look as well.

“I’m afraid I have to do something about that,” the Doctor muttered stepping towards Ada. The girl took a step back, confused.

“What do you mean?” she asked, and the Doctor sighed, stepping closer and bringing a hand to Ada’s temple.

“I’m ever so sorry, Ada,” she murmured, and Ada seemed to realize what was happening, as tears began to fill in her eyes.

“Doctor, what are you doing?” she asked.

“Wiping the things you shouldn’t have knowledge of,” the Doctor told her, sighing heavily. “Including me and Jo,” A tear streaked down Ada’s face.

“But I want that knowledge!” she argued, looking between the Doctor and Jo. “Don’t take it away!” she pled. “Jo! You’re just going to let her?” Jo nodded sadly.

“It’s for the best,” she said, placing a comforting hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Goodbye, Ada,” and then her eyes rolled back into her head, and she passed out. The Doctor caught her in her arms, and carried her over to the lounge.

“Oh Ada, you don't need a preview. You figure it out before anyone. The first to see the potential in things like that. To work out what could be. What they can really do. Computers start with you,” the Doctor said softly, stroking a strand of hair out of Ada’s face, and Jo approached, stroking Ada’s cheek.

“Sweet dreams, Ada Lovelace,” she murmured, the Doctor repeating the sentiment, before they both returned to the TARDIS, disappearing into the night.


	9. Chapter 9

“You okay?” Yaz asked a couple of days later after they had picked Jo up. She had decided to go on more adventures with them. “You’re really quiet,” Ryan nodded.

“Yeah, you have been for days now,” he said, and Jo looked at the Doctor, at the way her shoulders sagged despite the smile she put on for the fam.

“Five planets, barely said a word,” Graham agreed, but the Doctor waved them off.

“I’m fine,” the lie was painfully obvious in her voice.

“Why don’t you ever share anything with us?” Graham finally accused, and the Doctor’s eyes widened.

“I share stuff!” Jo kept silent, but she knew she’d have to have a talk with the Doctor later.

“Not about yourself though,” Graham argued, and Ryan nodded.

“You know everything about us,” he said.

“And we know nothing about you,” Yaz finished, and Jo held in her urge to say  _ we finish each other’s -sandwiches! _

“Fine,” the Doctor sighed, and Jo didn’t like how distant she was. Her eyes were completely blank, as opposed to how they were usually filled with ancient wonder. “What do you want to know?”

“Who are you, Doc?” Graham asked. “Really,” he added, and the Doctor took in a deep breath, her voice detached when she finally opened her mouth to answer his question.

“I was born on a planet called Gallifrey. In the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm a Time Lord. I can regenerate my body. I stole this TARDIS and ran away. I've been travelling ever since,” she rattled off with almost clinical detachment, and Jo flinched. “The Master was one of my oldest friends,” sadness flashed in her eyes for a moment. “We went very different ways…” she trailed off, looking down for a moment to collect herself before looking back up at the fam. “Questions?”

“Loads,” Graham scoffed, and Yaz grinned.

“Can we visit it? Your home?” she asked, and Jo flinched once more, remembering what she had heard the Master say.

_ “I'm not sure how to describe what I found. Pulverised? Burned? Nuked? All of the above,” he had said. “Someone destroyed it. Our home. Razed to the ground. Everyone killed. Everything burned,” _

The Doctor hadn’t wanted to believe the Master, but Jo didn’t think he would lie about that. Or at least, it didn’t feel like that was a lie.

“Another time,” the Doctor sighed, and Jo almost wanted to cry for her old friend.

* * *

After the Doctor had dropped the fam home, Jo decided it was time for their talk.

“Doctor?” she asked, her voice shaky despite her best efforts to remain calm. The Doctor looked up at her, and this time her cold mask was gone, and Jo could see how truly devastated she was. “What happened to Gallifrey?” she asked, and the Doctor took in a shuddering breath.

“He destroyed it,” she muttered, sitting down on the steps to the console, and Jo lowered herself down to sit next to her.

“The Master?” the Doctor nodded numbly, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small circular device. It had Gallifreyan markings on it, but Jo couldn’t quite figure them out. Her language lessons were going  _ very _ slowly there. In the center, there was a blinking light, and Jo’s thumb hovered over it for a moment. She looked to the Doctor, who nodded. Jo pressed the button and a hologram appeared in front of them. It was the Master, appearing much more tattered than he had before. He looked distraught, and his voice was filled with sadness when he spoke.

“ _Geo-activated. If you're seeing this, you've been to Gallifrey,_ ” he spoke, and paused to take in a deep breath. “ _When I said someone did that, obviously I meant I did. I had to make them pay, Doctor. For what I discovered_ ,” he took in a shuddering breath, and Jo was surprised to see his shoulders shaking, as if he was crying. Or perhaps holding in tears that had yet to fall. “ _They lied to us. The founding fathers of Gallifrey. Everything we were told was a lie. We are not who we think. You or I. The whole existence of our species. Built on the lie of the timeless child,_ ” the Doctor flinched, and the hologram blinked off. Jo’s eyes were wide as she tried to take in this information.

“The timeless child,” she repeated, looking at the Doctor. “What is that?” the Doctor’s shoulders shrugged.

“I don’t know,” her voice sounded so broken, and Jo realized that in this moment, she didn’t need to figure out the riddle the Master had given them. She needed to heal. Gently, Jo wrapped her arm around her friend’s shoulders, and pulled her into her. “Jo-” the Doctor’s voice began to break, and Jo shifted so that her head was laying on her chest, and she wrapped both arms around the Doctor’s form. One hand went to stroke through her hair, and Jo shushed her softly.

“Shh, it’s alright,” she murmured, and the Doctor dissolved into sobs, reliving the pain of her planet being destroyed for the second time. “I’ve got you,” Jo felt her skin getting wet with the Doctor’s tears, and she just continued to stroke a hand through her hair, the other hand rubbing reassuring circles on her back. “We’ll get through this,”

* * *

The Doctor dropped Jo home the next day, having not wanted to be alone the night before, which Jo understood. Jo went to the small kitchenette in her apartment to make some tea, and let out a sigh as the wheezing of the TARDIS announced the Doctor’s departure.

“Hello, luv,” not even half a second passed before Jo had whipped around and her fist collided with the Master’s face. He stumbled back with an ‘oof’. “I deserved that,” he admitted, and Jo pulled a knife out of a compartment in her jacket. The Master raised his eyebrows. “How many knives do you have?” he muttered, and Jo shrugged a shoulder.

“Enough to be a threat,” she shot back, and he smirked, reaching into his coat pocket slowly. Jo tensed, preparing to dash forward if he pulled out his TCE, but instead he pulled out a familiar knife. “Is that… mine?” she asked, tilting her head in confusion, and the Master nodded, flipping the knife so he was holding the blade and the handle was facing her.

“Figured it’d be polite to return it,” he muttered, and Jo cautiously took it out of his hands, shoving it in its rightful place in her boot.

“I threw it into your hand,” she said with raised eyebrows, and the Master shrugged.

“I don’t blame you,” he countered. “It was impressive, actually,” he smirked. “How much pain were you in, when you threw it?” he asked, a mix of fascination and genuine curiosity on his face, and Jo shrugged.

“You want a scientific measurement?” she deadpanned, and he chuckled.

“I knew I liked you for a reason!” he said with a smirk, and Jo rolled her eyes.

“You don’t like anyone,” the Master tilted his head, humming.

“You’re right,” he admitted, still grinning at her. He pointed at a stool that was at her kitchen counter. “May I?” Jo nodded, and he sank heavily onto the stool, leaning his forearms on the counter.

“Tea?” she asked, and the Master smirked.

“Yeah, thanks,” he nodded, and Jo turned her stove on before turning to one of her cabinets and rooting through it for the blend she wanted. She kept a cautious eye on the Master, though.

“So why are you here?” she asked, and the Master shrugged.

“Wanted to return that lovely knife,” he said, eyes scanning her up and down as if searching for more hiding places where she kept her knives. He wouldn’t find them, Jo had done a good job of concealing her weapons. “Past that, no clue,” he shrugged, and Jo raised her eyebrows at him.

“So you’re just… here,” she said, and he nodded. “With no ulterior motive,” he nodded once more, and Jo scoffed. “Forgive me if I don’t entirely believe that,” she said, pulling out her steeper and scooping some tea leaves into it. The Master chuckled.

“I don’t blame you,” he admitted. “Though, if I’m being honest, the anomaly that is Jo Hartford is… fascinating,” he bit his lip as he observed her, and Jo rolled his eyes.

“I’m pretty sure the judoon still have records of everything they got when they ‘tested’ me,” Jo held up finger quotes around the word  _ tested _ and the Master hummed in confusion. Jo looked up at him, waiting for him to connect the dots, but he just continued to stare at her, his face pinched in an  ~~ adorably ~~ confused expression. “They held me against my will for two months trying to figure out what the fuck I was,” she said bluntly, and the Master’s eyes widened.

“That’s awful,” he muttered, and Jo couldn’t tell if his sympathetic tone was genuine or manufactured. “Had to escape from them a couple times, myself, never fun,” he grimaced, and Jo nodded. The kettle screeched, and Jo took it off the stove and poured it into the steeper. There were a couple moments of silence, though it wasn’t entirely awkward, in which they waited for the tea to steep.

When it had, Jo handed the Master a cup of tea, before pouring one for herself.

“So…” she started, and the Master grunted in question, glancing up at her from his teacup. “What happens now?” he grinned.

“No idea,” he said, and Jo’s brows furrowed.

“You don’t have a plan?” she asked, incredulous, and the Master shrugged.

“Of course I have a plan,” he scoffed. “I thought you meant  _ right now _ ,” she had, but he didn’t need to know that. “I heard humans like movies,” he shrugged, and Jo’s jaw dropped, gaping at him.

“Are you… asking me on a date?” she muttered, confused beyond belief, and the Master scoffed, shaking his head. 

“Nothing as mundane as that,” he defended, before tilting his head. “But… yes,” Jo let out a tiny gasp, her confusion not ebbing at all as she stared at the Master.

“Um… what?” she asked dumbly, and the Master rolled his eyes.

“I thought this was what happened when you were interested in someone,” he said, and Jo nodded.

“It is, when you’re interested  _ romantically _ ,” she said. “Not as a science experiment,” the Master just stared blankly at her, and Jo sighed, rolling her eyes. “Jesus christ,” she muttered, before stepping closer to him. “Alright, what’ve you got?” the Master’s eyes widened minutely, and he stood, staring down at her in confusion.

“What?” it was his turn to look stupid, mouth gaping open like a fish.

“For movies, dumbass,” Jo sighed, and the Master grinned, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards a ‘closet’ door.

“Come see!” he said excitedly, dragging her through the door and into his TARDIS, which was surprisingly still decorated like O’s cabin. He dragged her further in, leading her to a screening room and gesturing to the remote. “Anything you’d like,” he said, and Jo pondered for a minute, before smirking at him. She collapsed on the immensely comfy sofa and picked up the remote, beginning to type in the name of her movie.

“Alright, come sit down,” she said, and the Master looked lost for a moment before he sat down next to her, stiff as a board. “Oh my god, relax, dude,” she muttered, continuing to type, and the Master leaned back. Jo glanced over at him, and giggled at how ridiculous he looked. He was insanely tense, and in a purple plaid suit with a velvet overcoat. She rolled her eyes, setting down the remote. “You’re impossible," she muttered, standing and starting to leave the room. The Master shot up and trailed after her, though surprisingly he did nothing to stop her.

“What’re you doing?” he asked, and Jo giggled.

“I’m putting on some comfy clothes,” she explained, stopping at the TARDIS door. “I’d suggest you do the same. Be right back!” she called, exiting the TARDIS. The Master stared at the TARDIS door for a moment, as if he was unsure if all that had really just happened. After a moment of standing there like an idiot, he raced to the TARDIS’ wardrobe and changed into some plaid sweats and a t shirt, before running back up to the console room. True to her word, a couple minutes later Jo came back in wearing a hoodie and some leggings. She was also carrying a heap of soft blankets in her arms.

“You’re gonna have to lead me,” she muttered from behind the mountain of blankets, and the Master chuckled, going behind her and grasping her shoulders with surprising gentleness. He was able to see over the mountain of blankets, so he led her to the screening room and divested her of them, dumping them on the sofa.

“Now what?” he asked, and Jo shrugged.

“Have you ever made a pillow fort?” she asked.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got a new laptop! We are back!!

Jo found herself pleasantly surprised with how well her movie night with the Master went. And of course, pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t all some elaborate trap.

“This isn’t a pillow fort!” the Master said, with a scowl on his face and hands on his hips. Jo frowned back at him.

“What do you mean?” she asked, incredulous as she gestured to the epic pillow fort they had just built together. She should’ve expected that the Master would excel at constructing pillow forts. He actually had a lot of really good ideas.

“The only pillows we used are on the bottom,” the Master said, pointing at the pillows they would be sitting on, and Jo pouted. “It’s a blanket fort!”

“Fucking semantics,” she muttered moodily, crossing her arms over her chest and looking away from him.

“They’re important!” the Master shot back in a tone that almost resembled a whine, and Jo just rolled her eyes, grabbing the remote and plopping herself down in their pillow (or blanket, if the Master had his way) fort.

“Come on,” she bade him, patting the pillows next to her, and the Master sent her one last glare before ducking under the blanket-roof and making himself comfortable next to her. A good half a foot was between them, and Jo found herself smiling brightly at him as he joined her. She was already wrapped in one of her soft blankets as if she were a burrito, and The Master snorted at the sight. Other than the dirty look Jo shot him, she ignored his implicit opinion on her comfort. It was damn comfy and there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

“Why did we make this?” the Master asked with a sigh once more, his hand halfheartedly raising to gesture around them. He had repeated that question over and over throughout the process. Each time he had asked, Jo would just smile slyly at him and shake her head before returning to constructing the fort. She giggled, reaching over and patting his leg while she began to type in the movie she wanted to watch. 

“It’s the only way to have a proper movie night,” she told him, voice dead serious, and the Master rolled his eyes.

“Humans and their quirks,” he sighed, and Jo shot her foot out, kicking him lightly. “Ow!” He whined, shooting her a hurt and offended look, though they both knew that it hadn’t hurt him at all. She might’ve been happy if it left a bruise, but with his time lord biology, it wouldn’t happen.

“Our quirks make us loveable,” Jo said sagely, pressing  **enter** and beaming when her choice popped up.

“What is…  _ that _ ?” the Master asked, a look of horror on his face when he saw the cover photo. Jo giggled.

“Hercules!” she exclaimed, beaming so wide her grin could split her face open, before pressing  **play** and leaning forward excitedly. “My favorite Disney movie of all time!” the Master groaned at the word _ Disney _ , and Jo shot him a glare. “Hey, you told me to pick a movie!” she was quick to defend her choice, and the Master shot her an unimpressed look right back.

“I had assumed you had taste, love,” Jo scowled, ignoring the heat that rose in her cheeks and reminding herself it was perfectly common in the UK to refer to people as “love” in a non-romantic sense. Of course, he was from Gallifrey, but he had spent enough time as O…  _ enough overthinking!  _ She wanted to slap herself.

“Have you ever even  _ seen _ Hercules?” she challenged the time lord at her side, leaning closer to him, and the Master stayed silent, eyes darting to the side quickly to get a break from her intense gaze. You’d think as a supervillain he’d be used to prolonged, intense eye contact. “Or any Disney movie?” Again, her question was met with a telling silence. “No! So shut up and watch it!” Jo huffed triumphantly, leaning back and sinking further into the pillows. She beamed when the Muses interrupted the narrator, beginning to mouth along to the movie. The Master looked like he had more to say, but he shut his mouth and leaned back as well, his glare being redirected from Jo to the movie.

* * *

The Master found himself glancing at Jo more often than he would care to admit to even himself. Usually when he referred to humans as adorable it was in a mean, condescending sort of way, but seeing Jo mouthing along to almost every line in Hercules was adorable in the best kind of way. The kind that got his hearts pumping  _ just _ a little faster, and made him want to have more movie nights with her just like this, even if she continued to pick Disney movies. He didn’t think he would mind that much. He even had the urge to pull her close, have her rest her head on his shoulder, but that was quickly shoved deep down where he couldn’t feel or think about it.

The little dance she did with her shoulders was another thing. Occasionally during a song she would sway her shoulders, bumping into him unapologetically. She’d just grin at him when he shot her a half hearted glare, trying to urge him to dance with her. The best she got was some head motion, but she seemed satisfied.

After Hercules had ended, Jo asked him how he felt about watching another movie. After all, it’s not a movie night if you only watch one. He wanted to point out more about her strict rules around “real movie nights” but instead he shrugged noncommittally. He could tease her some other time.

“If you must,” he had sighed as if it were a burden to watch these movies with her, but from the knowing smile Jo gave him he knew he wasn’t fooling anyone. He was enjoying the night.

“Awesome!” Jo had cheered, before queuing up Mulan. “You’re gonna love Mushu!”

* * *

He did love Mushu.

At the very end of Mulan, when the party with the ancestors started, the Master turned to Jo with a small smile on his face. He was relieved to see she had fallen asleep so she couldn’t see the soft look he was giving her, and he quickly schooled his expression back to a more neutral one. His image would be totally thrown off if she saw him smiling at her like that… like she was the creator of all things beautiful and a bunch of other sentimental cliches that his brain was suddenly providing.

The Master reached out and gently nudged her shoulder, but she just groaned, swatting at his hand and rolling towards him. Her head landed on his chest, and the Master tensed.

When was the last time someone had touched him like this? Embraced him in something  _ other  _ than a chokehold?

“Jo,” He called, shaking her shoulder, and she mumbled incoherently, eyes cracking open minutely and peering up at him.

“Huh?” She murmured, and the Master chuckled, rolling his eyes fondly and nudging her once more.

“I think it’s time for you to sleep,” he said, urging her to stand, but Jo shook her head adamantly, nuzzling further into his chest, her nose tucked up under his ear. He cleared his throat, trying desperately to ignore the feeling of her breath brushing his neck.

“I  _ was _ sleeping,” Jo muttered defiantly, and even though the Master couldn’t see her face he could  _ hear _ the pout in her voice.

“In your own bed, love,” he said. Jo snorted.

“Lame,” was all she muttered, not really awake, and the Master groaned, his eyes flicking to the ceiling as if he was searching for answers from a deity that he didn’t think existed.

“I tried to be nice,” he muttered, barely waiting to hear Jo’s confused “wha-“ before he was shoving her off his lap roughly. She fell on the pillows much less dramatically than the Master had hoped, but it was enough to rouse her.

“The fuck?” She groaned, shooting him a sleepy glare, and the Master just shrugged innocently.

“You weren’t getting up,” he said, and Jo rolled her eyes, shuffling around and unsteadily extracting herself from their pillow fort. As she stumbled out of it, she turned to look back at it, and the Master followed her out.

“To bed with you, human!” He urged, nudging her much more gently than she would’ve expected and Jo shook her head, reaching for the blanket that had served as the roof to their fort.

“I need my blankets,” she said, beginning to collect the blankets that belonged to her, and the Master rolled his eyes when she grabbed at a blanket and missed for the third time. He nudged her away and quickly picked up all the blankets, the bundle resting in his arms as he scowled down at her. She was swaying lightly on her feet, and he rolled his eyes, reaching out to tap her with his foot.

“Come on,” he grunted, leading the way out of his TARDIS and back into her 1923 New York flat. Jo stumbled after him blearily, practically collapsing into her bed once it was in sight. The Master rolled his eyes, throwing one of the blankets over her and leaving the rest on her couch. He turned to return to the TARDIS, but a distressed noise from Jo prompted him to turn back and rush to her bedside. He wasn’t concerned… She smiled brightly up at him, and the smile was so innocent and childlike that the Master was taken off guard, he had trouble computing that her smile was for him. She smiled at him like that despite knowing the awful things he had done. His hearts weren’t sure if they wanted to beat too fast or too slow. One was pumping slow, calm after the relaxing night, but the other was about to burst out of his chest with adoration for the human-not-human.

“Goodnight, Master,” she said softly, shuffling so a hand reached out of the blankets and tapped him lightly on the shoulder, the motion perhaps was meant to be something else but in her exhausted state that was all she could manage. The Master’s eyes widened at her gentle tone before he cleared his throat, straightening from how he had been bent over her bedside to hear what she said. 

“Was that what you called me back for?!” He asked incredulously, a mask of annoyance on his face, and Jo giggled, nodding her head.

“Mhmm,” she hummed in confirmation, turning to her side and nuzzling into her pillow. The Master rolled his eyes playfully.

“Goodnight, Jo,” he said, before abruptly turning and retreating to his TARDIS. The humming from it and disappearance of the extra “closet” door announced his departure. Jo’s smile remained, and she snuggled further into her pillow, falling asleep almost instantly.

She would deal with the whole moral dilemma that came with having a movie night with a mass murdering maniac who happened to be her best friend’s best enemy in the morning.

* * *

The Master rubbed a hand down his face as he slumped onto a couch in the main console room of his TARDIS. A silly smile was on his face, and he glanced at the stack of files that was on the coffee table in front of the couch. They contained all the information he could find on Jo in Earth’s databases. He now realized he would have to expand his search from solely Earth’s databases. He would definitely be stealing her records from her time with the judoon. He shook his head and rolled his eyes, looking away once more. He wanted to bask in the nice evening he shared with her before diving into researching what she could possibly be.

She had been so vulnerable with him. She had fallen asleep right next to him, snuggled into his chest even! No creature had trusted him that much since his youth… not even Lucy had ever felt so comfortable with him.

He wanted to revel in the feeling of a genuine smile on his face, as opposed to a sadistic smirk or fake smile for the sake of a role. It was nice.

He could deal with looking further into The anomalous Jo Hartford in the morning.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, folks, we'll get back to the plot soon.

Jo wasn’t sure what exactly she expected after her movie night with the Master. Perhaps she expected to wake up and find herself kidnapped, to be used as bait for the Doctor. A small part of her anticipated waking up strapped down to a table for experimentation. But she definitely did  _ not _ anticipate waking up normally the next morning.

She groaned slightly, stretching her arms out and snuggling further into her pillow. She was in that half awake phase of consciousness where you’re not quite able to determine what’s real and what isn’t, what was a dream and what wasn’t. But when she rolled over to see a pile of blankets thrown haphazardly over the arm of her couch, it all came rushing back.

She shot up, head whipping around to look for the Master, but nothing was out of place. 

Jo took her sonic out of a hidden pocket in her pants, scanning around the room and frowning when there were no results except to show that a TARDIS was there during the night. The times matched up and everything, so he hadn’t stayed past his welcome, or left and came back once she was truly asleep. For a moment she debated pulling out her phone and shooting the Doctor a text, but ultimately she decided against it. The Master didn’t seem to mean her any harm, and the Doctor had enough on her plate.

* * *

It was exactly a week after her movie night with the Master that he showed up again, this time sporting a pair of purple tartan sweatpants and a black t-shirt.

“Um…” Jo looked up from where she was cooking a favorite food of hers called pastina and egg. “Hi?” she phrased it like a question, confused as to why he was back.

“Jo,” he nodded in greeting to her, hopping up on the stool at her kitchen counter just like his last visit.

“What’s up?” she asked, beginning to whisk some eggs and cheese together.

“We’re having another movie night,” the Master explained with a small shrug of his shoulders, and Jo’s head snapped up to glare puzzledly at him.

“We are?” he rolled his eyes.

“Of course we are, pet,”

“Well how was I supposed to know?” she placed her whisk down so she could place her hands on her hips, turning and glaring at the Master. The Master opened his mouth to say something, but stopped, his mouth slowly closing once more.

“You… wouldn’t,” he muttered eventually, and it was Jo’s turn to roll her eyes.

“Silly timelord,” she grumbled. “Well, lucky for you I’m home, I hope you like pastina and egg,”

So Fridays at 5 pm became their time for movie nights.

* * *

“Hey Doctor,” Jo greeted as she entered the TARDIS one Thursday afternoon. The Doctor had given her a quick hug before bouncing over to the console, where Yaz, Graham, and Ryan were waiting.

“Where to, fam?” the Doctor asked. Everyone shrugged, prompting the Doctor’s face to screw up as she thought of a potential location. She suddenly perked up, her eyes widening as she began zipping around the console. “Oh, I hope you all packed your bathing suits!” she excitedly said, causing Jo to scowl. Her and bathing suits did  _ not _ mix. 

“We didn’t  _ pack _ anything-” Ryan started, but the Doctor bowled right over him.

“Hot springs on Janssen! Of course, a good 8 billion years after your time! There’s a spot where you can hop in one pool that is around 38 degrees-” Jo opened her mouth, but the doctor cut her off. “100 fahrenheit, Jo,” Jo’s mouth closed. “And then hop out and walk over to a pool that’s 11 degrees, 51 fahrenheit,” Jo grinned.

“Oh I did that once in Iceland!” she said. “Thought I was gonna die of thermal shock,” this had been before she knew she literally couldn’t die, of course.

“Is that safe?” Graham asked, his face scrunching up, and the Doctor nodded.

“Of course,” she grinned at the fam. “When have I ever led you astray?” each of her companions opened their mouths to answer her, probably each with separate instances they could bring up, but the Doctor’s grin dropped and she spoke before any of them could say anything. “Don’t answer that,” 

* * *

Surprisingly, Jo, the Doctor, and the fam enjoyed a hostile-alien free dip in the hot springs on Janssen. It had taken some whining from the Doctor, but Jo had eventually stomped into the TARDIS closet to find a bathing suit and join the others in the water.

“When do you want to be dropped off?” the Doctor asked Jo after the rest of the fam had been dropped at their respective flats. Jo shrugged. “I can just do a day later?” the Doctor phrased it as a question, but as Jo went to nod, she froze.

“Wait what day was it when you picked me up?” she asked, and the Doctor thought for a moment.

“Thursday,” she answered, and Jo nodded.

“Go around noon, Friday,” she said, and the Doctor grinned suggestively.

“Got a date?” she asked, and Jo blushed at the insinuation. The Master and her, on a date… Would never happen.

“Um… something like that,” Jo said eventually, her head ducking down to avoid the Doctor’s gaze.

“Want me to check them out, what’s their name?” Jo’s eyes widened as the Doctor pulled up one of her screens.

“No!” she shouted, perhaps a little too frantically. The Doctor gave her an odd look. “It’s… fine, really! You shouldn’t worry,”  _ You most definitely should worry _ . The Doctor continued to give her a skeptical look, but nodded, zipping around the controls with a flourish. When they landed, the Doctor shooed Jo out the door.

“Have fun on your date!” the Doctor said, before slamming the door behind Jo. She heard the wheezing of the TARDIS, and then she was alone in her apartment.

Or so she thought.

“Date?” Jo jumped, pulling one of her knives out at the voice that sounded from her living room. “Just me!” The Master called, lounging on her couch, and Jo relaxed, returning her knife to its rightful place.

“You’re early,” she said, avoiding talking about what the Doctor had called their movie night. The Master rolled his eyes.

“More like the Doctor can’t drive and you’re late,” Jo’s eyes widened, and she looked over at her clock, sighing at the time: 5:30.

“Sorry,” she muttered, plopping down on the couch next to him. “I told her to drop me off at noon,” the Master snorted.

“Maybe if you had told her to drop you off yesterday night you would have been on time,” he said, and Jo giggled a bit.

“Maybe,” she shrugged, before standing and heading to her bedroom. “I’m gonna get changed, it’s your turn to pick the movie!” much to her chagrin, the Master followed her, leaning against the door as Jo pulled out a comfy nightdress.

“The Doctor called it a date,” he said, as casually as he could, crossing his arms over his chest. Jo flushed.

“Her words, not mine,” she defended quickly, going to close the door on the Master, but he put his hand out, stopping it.

“Pity,” he said with a grin, before allowing the door to close. Jo’s cheeks flushed even brighter, and she let out a frustrated noise before turning and quickly stripping, putting her nightdress on. She took a couple of seconds to breathe, taking her time brushing her hair out so she could recover. Alas, her cheeks were still a bit pink when she opened her door, unsurprised to see the Master waiting just on the other side. He smirked at her dress, and Jo scowled at him.

“My comfy pants are all in the laundry,” she muttered defensively, shoving past him and waltzing into his TARDIS. Since their first movie night, his TARDIS had changed the screening room a bit. It was now just one big pillow fort. Or blanket fort, as the Master insisted on calling it. She plopped down on the pillows and waited for the Master to join her. He did, jumping on the pillows dramatically, causing Jo to bounce a bit.

“What’re we watching?” she asked, graciously accepting the bowl of popcorn the Master thrust into her hands. He grinned at her. It wasn’t the grin that she was now used to seeing, where his eyes were all soft and she kind of wanted to just snuggle up with him. This was the grin he reserved for victims of his evil plots, or the Doctor, who usually ended up being a victim-turned-foiler of his evil plots.

“You’ll see,” was all he said, pressing play, and leaning back, throwing his hands behind his head. Jo rolled her eyes, but she tensed when she heard the intro music. It was painfully obvious this would be a horror film.

“I hate you,” she muttered, and the Master hummed.

“I don’t think you do,” he responded. Jo pouted, grabbing a blanket and quickly wrapping it around her, trying to prepare herself for the horror movie.

Despite how many scary things she had seen in real life, horror movies were always troublesome for Jo. She could barely ever get through them, and often found herself plagued by nightmares for days afterwards. Of course, her pride didn’t allow her to tell the Master this.

At the first jump scare, Jo couldn’t hold in her squeak or suppress her flinch. The Master chuckled a bit.

“Scared, pet?” he teased, and Jo glared at him, curling up into a little ball as she returned her attention to the screen. The Master sighed, watching as she tensed even further, whimpers occasionally escaping her as the movie went on. “You’re ridiculous,” he muttered, reaching over to tug her against his chest. “You know it’s a movie,” Jo whimpered again, turning her face from the movie and burrowing into his chest.

“Doesn’t make it less scary,” she muttered. The Master sighed, pretending to be annoyed by the whole situation. Secretly(or not-so-secretly, he wasn’t as subtly as he thought) he was enjoying having Jo snuggled against his chest. Her hands had twisted themselves into his shirt, and her face was hidden in his neck.

“I’m sure you’ve lived through scarier,” he said at one point, and Jo scoffed.

“Of course I have,” she was quick to say. “But horror movies are awful,” he rolled his eyes, squeezing her tighter.

“We can watch a Disney movie after,” he said, and Jo grinned against his neck, before pulling away to look him in the eyes. He almost melted at her vulnerable, adorably hopeful expression.

“Really?” she muttered, and he nodded, hand reaching up to cradle her head and guide her back to nuzzling into his neck.

“Really,” he confirmed.

He didn’t bother telling her that he actually enjoyed Disney movies, now.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And we start Episode: Orphan-55

Jo sighed for the umpteenth time that evening as she helped the Doctor and the fam clean up the main console room in the TARDIS.

“What are we even supposed to do with this tentacle?” Ryan had asked, and Jo smirked.

“Obviously sell it to one of those freak shows in the 50s for a bunch of money,” she said with a shrug, and Yaz’s eyes widened.

“I’m sorry, sell it to a what?” Jo giggled a bit at the disgusted look on his face.

“Not one of the ones focused on exploiting deformed people, obviously, the one with washed up whale tails that they pretend are mermaid tails, and weird shaped rocks that look like a unicorn horn,” she explained, and Yaz and Ryan both nodded, an impressed look on their faces.

“That’s a good idea, that,” Ryan said, and Jo smiled.

“Great way to make a quick buck,” she shrugged.

“Oh ffff-” Yaz cut herself off, lifting her foot with a disgusted look, and everybody else saw the slime still trying to stick to the sole of her shoe.

“Sorry again guys,” the Doctor said with a grimace, spraying some weird spray on Yaz’s foot that caused the slime to melt off. “I did  _ not _ know it was their mating season,” 

“I’m not even sure we landed when we were supposed to,” Jo piped up. “Didn’t you say it was supposed to be winter there? It was friggin hot,” now her body was shaking, and goosebumps appeared all up her arms. She took her jacket which she had tied around her waist almost as soon as they had arrived on the planet and put it back on properly. The Doctor shrugged.

“Who knows?” she said, and Jo narrowed her eyes.

“You’re supposed to, Ms. TARDIS driver,” her hands went to her hips, and the Doctor’s eyes widened in offense, her hand going to her chest jokingly.

“Ouch!” she said, her face scrunching up, and Jo just blew a raspberry at her. Which the millennia old alien very maturely returned.

“I’ve got it!” Graham suddenly called, walking quickly towards them from around the center console.

“Got what?” the Doctor called back, and Graham grinned at her.

“The sixth coupon!” he exclaimed. “From the Bandohzi Herald that keeps getting delivered by the coffee machine upstairs. Or is it downstairs?” he rolled his eyes and waved his hands, and the other members of the TARDIS crew (excluding the Doctor) nodded their heads sympathetically. It was impossible to keep track of where everything was in the TARDIS. “Anyway, doesn’t matter, I noticed they’ve got this offer,” he began laying the coupons out on a table, and the rest of the fam all went up to look. “Collect six coupons and get a free holiday! Look!” he pointed to the coupons, six plastic squares which he had laid out on the table and grins immediately spread on Yaz and Ryan’s faces, mirroring the one already on Graham’s.

“I’m up for a holiday,” Ryan said, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Where is it?” 

“Some place called tranquility,” Graham said with a shrug.

“Me too,” Yaz said. “So long as there’s plenty of sun and absolutely no deep-space squid,” she added on, throwing a pointed glare in the Doctor’s direction, who had stayed with the tentacle and was continuing to clean everything up. “Might get you out of your mood,” this was directed at the Doctor, who finally looked up.

“My mood’s fine,” she said resolutely, and Jo sighed. She had been different, she had less of that  _ need-to-save-everyone _ attitude and more of a  _ need-to-keep-the-fam-safe-not-everyone  _ attitude. This was fine, of course, but different. 

“That’s you told,” Ryan said, the smallest smile appearing on his face. Yaz shot him an annoyed look, causing Jo to snort and raise her hand to hide a giggle. Suddenly the Doctor looked up, staring at the coupons, which Graham had begun to put together to form a cube.

“Wait a second Graham-they’re not six perfect squares are they-NO!” she rushed forward, but it was too late, and Graham clicked the last one into place. The cube began to glow as the Doctor rushed over.

“Too late for that,” Ryan said as they all heard a sound that continuously got higher in pitch-as if something were powering up. 

“What’s happening?” Graham asked, his hands flying away from the cube as if burned. 

“I hope you’ve packed,” the Doctor said. “They’re not just coupons, that’s a teleport cube, just activated, we’ve got about four seconds,”

“Well that’s not a lot of time to prepare,” Jo said with a roll of her eyes, resting her elbows on the table as she waited for them to teleport. 

“But I’ve got to fetch my speedos!” Graham exclaimed, and there was an awkward silence while everyone stared at him. “Only joking,” he said with a grin, and Jo almost sighed in relief. Almost, because he followed up with: “Already got ‘em on,” 

A bright light surrounded each of their individual bodies, and suddenly they were on a sandy plain, with a tropical jungle visible just in front of them, an ocean to their left, and a large white building just behind them.

“ _ Welcome to Tranquility Spa _ ,” a voice said from above their heads, and all of them grinned as they looked around at the scenery.

“Now this is a bit of alright,” Graham exclaimed. Jo jumped when suddenly a woman came up to them. She had been so caught up in the scenery that she hadn’t noticed the almost-cat-like woman in an orange uniform until she was right in front of them.

“Welcome!” she cheered. “O’Brien party of five? Bandohzi Harold coupons?” she pointed to them in turn, and they all nodded in confirmation. “I’m Hyph3n with a 3,” she introduced herself, holding up 3 fingers in front of her before waving her arms outward. “Your customer host at Tranquility Spa! And relax!”

“Hi Hyph3n with a 3,” the Doctor stepped forward, pointing at the woman’s poofy tail. “Nice tail,” Hyph3n grinned bashfully as the Doctor continued. “Bit worried about being separated from our ship,” Hyph3n shook her head, smiling brightly still.

“Our system has saved exactly where you came from. You can return any time, but you're booked in for two weeks, all inclusive,” she explained, and the fam let out various comments of excitement, turning to each other with grins. “Your rooms are just being prepared, take a moment to explore and I'll come and find you once they're ready,” she said excitedly while the fam all bounced on the balls of their feet, excited to run off and explore the place. Hyph3n walked off, her large poofy tail wagging behind her, and almost immediately everyone ran off in different directions. 

“I’m gonna find the pool,” Yaz said, running off, at the same time as Ryan, who said:

“I’m seeing what they’ve got inside,” as he began to jog in the same direction Hyph3n went, towards the door. Graham turned to the Doctor and Jo, who had yet to declare what they wanted to do.

“I’m gonna sit over there for three hours,” he pointed towards the beach. “Then I'm gonna get up, and sit somewhere else. Then, cocktails. All inclusive, Doc! Gotta get our coupons' worth. Get in!” he exclaimed in a rush, his arms pumping excitedly before he briskly walked over to the lounger he had pointed at earlier.

Jo and the Doctor exchanged amused looks.

“I’ll have a look around then,” the Doctor said, looking to Jo, who nodded.

“I’ll join you,” she said, linking her arm with the Doctor’s as they walked off. “Sexy’s gonna be pissed at you, by the way,” she said, and the Doctor’s brows raised.

“Why’s that?” she asked, and Jo giggled.

“That tentacle’s going to rot,” the Doctor grimaced, but Jo just continued to tug her along.

* * *

A little later, the Doctor and Jo strolled into the refreshments area, just as Ryan recoiled from a vending machine.

“Ow,” he exclaimed, and the Doctor smiled at him. 

“Fighting with the vending machine?” she asked, and Ryan shook his head.

“It just gave me an electric shock!” he exclaimed, and Jo’s brows furrowed.

“Really?” she asked, grabbing his hand and examining it. Her brow furrowed further when she saw the glowing red worm-like things swirling around under Ryan’s skin. She tilted his palm to show the Doctor’s, who’s eyes widened in concern.

“That’s not a shock, it's a hopper virus. This machine's sick. And it just passed the virus on to you!” the Doctor exclaimed, peering at the machine and Ryan in turn, a look of concern etched on her face. Ryan’s own face pinched in confusion.

“How can I get the same virus as a vending machine?” Ryan asked, bewildered. “I'm not a machine!” he held a hand to his chest, and the Doctor shrugged.

“Hoppers are multi-platform, they’ll go for anything- _ Don’t pick at it! _ ” she grabbed Ryan’s hand as he began to scratch at his palm, and all three of them widened their eyes as the glowing red thing-the hopper virus-dove down Ryan’s wrist, disappearing under his sleeve.

“Did it just go  _ through  _ me?” Ryan asked in shock.

“It’s moving deeper inside to mutate your nervous system,” the Doctor explained, and Ryan abruptly turned to her.

“What?” he exclaimed.

“Important not to panic,” the Doctor said, her voice calm as could be as she began to explain the symptoms. “Humans always have the same reaction to a hopper virus. First you get the wiggly fingers,” she explained, just as Ryan’s fingers began wiggling. “Which is a warning that your legs are about to go,” suddenly Ryan just dropped, and the Doctor and Jo dove to catch him. They began to gently lower the ground. “Luckily, this is where my hopper first aid training kicks in. Need to get rid of these,” the Doctor grabbed the bag of crisps, opening it and emptying it on the floor. Jo sighed.

“What a waste of chips,” she muttered, arms still supporting Ryan. 

“Then pinch your ear,” the Doctor reached over and pinched Ryan’s ear, the man flinching away from her.

“Ow!” the Doctor just held up the now empty bag in front of Ryan’s face.

“Now you’re gonna sneeze,” Jo watched in awe at the quick procession of events as Ryan sneezed into the bag. The doctor held it up with a grin. “Yes!” she cheered, pinching the bag closed before turning to look at Ryan. “Now suck your thumb until the hallucinations stop and remember: they’re not real bats,” she ordered, and Jo’s face pinched in confusion. Ryan’s thumb immediately went into his mouth as he stood, and distressed noises began to emit from his throat. Jo hovered anxiously around him, trying to make sure he wouldn’t hurt himself while he began to swat at-if the doctor’s warning was anything to go by- imaginary bats. “He’s fine! He’s fine!” the Doctor assured the other guests in the area, who had watched the exchange in concern.

Ryan tugged his jacket over his head and crouched into a ball.

“Make the bats go away!” he pled, and Jo gently put her arm around his shoulders, rubbing them to try and ease his panic.

“It’s okay,” she cooed. “It’s not real,” She stood, pulling Ryan up with her, and brought him over to the windows, where there were some high tables with chairs. They all jumped when the same disembodied voice that had welcomed them spoke.

“ _ All guests, please assemble at your nearest muster station. Relax, this is a routine Tranquillity drill, _ ” the Doctor and Jo exchanged worried looks.

“Stay here,” the Doctor ordered. “I'll investigate. It's probably nothing. Usually nothing. Well, I say usually…” she trailed off before darting away. Jo sighed, but before she could hop up onto one of the chairs Ryan began to fall out of his. She leapt up, grabbing him by his lapels and helping him get back into the chair.

“Actually-” she muttered, gently leading Ryan out of his chair and to the ground, having him lean against the wall. “Less likely to fall out of your chair and concuss yourself this way, cuz that’d be fun,” Ryan’s eyes were clearer now as he looked at her, and Jo gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “We’ll just sit here for a bit, okay?” he nodded, and Jo sunk down to sit cross legged next to him.

Ryan leaned against one of the chairs, and stayed still for a moment. Jo followed his gaze, curious at what had caught his attention, and her eyes widened when she saw a woman sucking her thumb, likely in the same predicament as Ryan. Ryan pulled his thumb out of his mouth and began to speak.

“Hopper virus got you too?” he asked, and the woman just gave the both of them a look. “Not sure about this place,” he muttered, and she just shot him another look before turning away and closing her eyes. “So uh… you here with family?” Jo snorted at his persistence. The woman seemed to think for a moment before pulling her own thumb out of her mouth.

“Hotel critic,” she answered. “You?” 

“Oh I’m here with my mates,” he pointed at Jo, who peeked over his shoulder to get a better look at the woman. Jo waved with a grin, and the woman gave her an unsure wave back. “I’m a pilot. Surgeon. Surgeon-pilot,” Jo sniggered as Ryan tripped over his words, trying to come up with an occupation for himself. “Surgeon for pilots,” he finally got out. “So do you come across many hopper viruses?” he began to ask, but the woman spoke over him.

“Does this usually work?” she asked, her face skeptical.

“What?” Ryan asked, face the picture of confusion. 

“Pretending to be stupid so girls  _ have _ to answer your questions?” she explained, and Ryan immediately back pedaled.

“Hey look I’m not trying to chat you up-”

“You were totally trying to chat her up,” Jo whispered, causing Ryan to smack her thigh with a look. The woman and Ryan both looked away from each other, but after a moment she spoke again.

“Shame,” both Jo and Ryan’s eyes widened as they turned to look at her in shock. “I’m Bella,” she introduced. Ryan grinned.

“Well-” he cut himself off when a man dressed in all black tactical gear suddenly walked by.

“Heading to the East Zone, I’ll try to isolate it there,” Jo’s eyes widened as the man cocked his gun, and she turned to Ryan, who in turn looked to Bella.

“If this is a drill, what’s he doing with a gun?” he asked, and Bella’s face suddenly became confused. She blinked a couple times, as if trying to clear her head. “Do you wanna find out?” he asked, and Jo cringed as they both stood up.

“Is that the best idea?” she tried to argue. “You both just had a virus-” she cut herself off when both Bella and Ryan shot her a look. Jo sighed heavily, extending her hand to Ryan. “Fine,” he held out his own hand, tugging her up. Jo turned to Bella. “I’m Jo, by the way,” she introduced, before pointing at Ryan. “Loverboy over here is Ryan,” Bella shot them both a grin, before they quickly followed after the man with the gun.

They ran down the hallway, but gasped when they heard some growls and screeching.

“Something’s down there!” Ryan called out, and Bella grabbed his and Jo’s hands.

“In here!” she said, pulling them into a room labeled  _ Steam Room _ .

The room was dense with steam, making it hard to see too far, and as they entered, another guest ran in behind them, bowling past them. 

“ _ Please do not enter the Tranquility Steam Room during this routine drill _ ,” the voice piped up over their heads, but they paid it little mind.

“Hey! What’s out there?” Ryan asked the man who ran past them, but he seemed not to hear them.

“Help! Please! It’s coming! It’s seen me! Hide!” the man shouted, and Bella grabbed Jo and Ryan’s hands again.

“Shut up,” she hissed at Ryan, pulling them into one of the little alcoves. The crouched down as the screeching continued, gradually getting louder.

“I’m not really a surgeon for pilots,” Ryan whispered to Bella. “I work in a warehouse,” 

“I’m not really a hotel critic,” Bella responded. “I just didn’t want to say  _ unemployed nobody _ ,”

“And I’m not really a third wheel,” Jo piped up, prompting Bella and Ryan to shoot her a look. “Oh wait, I am!” suddenly, a loud BANG echoed around, and the voice spoke again.

“ _ An unauthorized lifeform has entered the steam room _ ,” she said, and Jo cringed.

“Unauthorized lifeform?” she mouthed to Ryan and Bella, who both gave her blank looks.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth about the resort comes out.

A scratching echoed through the steam room, as if whatever this  _ unauthorized lifeform _ was, it was just scratching its nails-claws?-along the wall. Not clawing at the wall as if it were trying to get through, but just dragging its claws against the wall to make a sound.

_ It’s playing with its food _ . Jo had the unsettling thought, before she grimaced and looked to the chamber next to the one her, Ryan, and Bella had ducked into. Between the coral-like design of the divider, she could see the man who had run past them. He was crouched down behind the divider, a milkshake clutched in one of his hands while the other held lightly onto one of the bars. His red tinted sunglasses paired with his studded leather get up was almost comedic. Almost, because as he peeked out to try to get a look at the creature, Jo was almost certain he was about to die. 

Ryan slowly held a finger up to his lips when the man looked over at them, making a ‘shh’ motion. The man seemed to not even notice, and began to exit his crouched position, straightening and peaking out into the hallway. 

“Don’t run!” Ryan hissed at him, and Jo found herself squeezing Bella’s hand. Bella glanced at her, brown eyes softening slightly, before they were petrified again as the man stood and began to run, completely ignoring Ryan’s advice. His clunky boots echoed on the cement floor and as he ran his breath came out in audible pants. The sound was so loud Jo felt like it was intentional, even though it would defy all logic, and everyone flinched when a terrifying mix between a hiss and a roar echoed throughout the room.

The man didn’t get far before a hideous blur of grey was upon him, tearing one of his arms clean out of its socket with gusto and flinging it across the room. The man’s milkshake went flying from the severed arm, clattering against the glass of the chamber the trio was hidden in and spilling across it. Ryan, who was pressed up against the glass, turned his face away and squeezed his eyes shut. Jo didn’t try to see around him. 

As the creature began to further carve into the man, Jo nudged her companions to get their attention.

“Come on,” she uttered, motioning to the side with her head, and they both nodded, standing and beginning to run as silently as they could to the other side of the room. Hopefully there would be a door there.

They had no such luck, and could see a cement wall at the other end of the hall. Jo chanced a look over her shoulder, and saw that the creature was looking at them now. It slowly stood from its crouched position over the unfortunate hotel guest, and began stalking towards them. It knew they had no way of escape, and was taking more time to play with them before it ripped into them, too. They all collapsed back against the wall at the end of the hallway, each of them cowering into the wall and each other. The creature continued to stalk towards them, and Ryan and Bella sunk to the floor, their backs against the wall. Jo sunk with them, taking deep breaths to try and stay calm. Bella’s hand flew to her mouth to muffle terrified whimpers, and Jo squeezed her hand again as a sickeningly thick glob of drool fell from the creature's mouth and to the floor by their feet.

Jo glanced at the other two; Ryan had his eyes closed tight, breathing heavily, and Bella’s eyes were similarly squeezed shut. Jo wasn’t as smart. 

She turned her head to fully look at the creature. For the first time, she could really  _ see _ it, not just as a blurry mass of grey lunging at the poor man who had tried to flee.

It was utterly terrifying. Its head almost looked like a warped human skull, with an elongated crown and a cavity and two slits where one would expect a nose to be, and eyes sunken deep into its sockets. There was a slit in each cheek, and while its body wasn’t plated it was clear that its skin was  _ very _ durable. Something distinctly not human about its head, however, were its teeth. The creature’s gums seemed to protrude out of its mouth, displaying huge, pointed teeth and another row growing above its upper teeth, however the second row seemed to be completely in its gums.

Jo squeezed her own eyes shut, fighting back the bile that tried to crawl up her throat, and prepared to be torn apart, limb from limb. She hadn’t died that way before, perhaps she really wouldn’t come back this time-

Or maybe she would come back, in the creature’s stomach. Jo held back a gag as the bile tried to come up again.

Suddenly a bright light appeared through her eyelids, and Jo snapped her eyes open, gasping at the sight of some type of forcefield going past them-going past where the creature was and pushing the creature out with it. The creature tried to fight the forcefield, but its resistance proved futile. A grin spread across Jo’s face as she turned to Ryan and Bella, seeing their confused faces.

“Is it gone?” Bella breathed, cradling her head in one hand and looking between Jo and Ryan on either side of her. “What just happened?” she asked.

“If I had to guess-” Ryan started, sharing a look with Jo.

“The Doctor,” they said together, both unsure if they should blame the Doctor for letting those creatures in or thank her for getting them out. One could never be sure which the Doctor would do. Of course, she always fixed her messes (or at least tried to) but one could say she was a bit of a trouble magnet. Bella’s face pinched in confusion as Ryan breathed out in relief. 

“She’s our friend,” Jo explained, and Bella looked at her, confusion not ebbing at all. “Trouble magnet, but very good problem solver,” Bella nodded, though it didn’t look as though she was any more in-the-know than she was 30 seconds prior. Jo stood, tugging on Bella’s hand to get her to stand as well. “Come on,” Jo prompted, nudging Ryan with her foot, who sighed and stood as well. “Let’s go find her,”

They began to walk out of the steam room, the door sliding open with a  _ whoosh _ , and-

“Ryan! Ryan! RYAN!” 

“Graham?” Ryan walked out a little ahead of them “What’s happening?” they all exited the steam room, and Graham’s face immediately relaxed as he began to pant. He pulled his grandson into a tight hug, and Jo smiled a bit at the sight.

“Oh Ryan,” he pulled away and hunched over, still panting. “It ain’t the aliens that are gonna kill me, it’s worrying about you,” he breathed out, and Jo scoffed out a chuckle before Bella let out a tense breath and began hurrying down the hallway. Graham lifted his head, looking after Bella as if noticing her for the first time. “She alright?” he asked, and Ryan and Jo exchanged a look.

“Uh… yeah, think so,” Ryan nodded, and Jo shrugged. Graham nodded as well as Ryan began following after Bella. Graham followed behind him, Jo by his side.

“Glad to see you still in one piece too, Jo,” he said, and Jo smiled brightly at him, throwing a friendly arm around his shoulder and giving him a squeeze before letting go.

“Same goes to you,” she said, and he smiled, throwing an arm around her shoulder and leaning on her slightly as they walked.

“Makin’ me run like that-I’m gonna kill ‘im,” Graham grumbled, and Jo giggled.

“Nah, not after that sweet reunion!” she teased, and Graham rolled his eyes playfully.

“Just you wait!” he warned, trying to keep a serious face… and epicly failing. They both burst into giggles as they continued down the hall.

“So what’s happened?” Jo asked after they had both calmed down, and the playful atmosphere completely evaporated.

“These… things… got into the hotel… they killed a whole lot of the guests,” Graham explained, and Jo cringed.

“I know, I saw one of them,” Graham’s eyes widened.

“You saw one?” Jo nodded.

“He-it?-was actually just about to get us when that forcefield thing came and pushed it away,” she told him, and Graham breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Thank god for the Doc, then,” he sighed. “Her an’ that Bionic Mainframe-”

“You mean ionic membrane?” Jo asked, raising her eyebrows, and Graham rolled his eyes.

“That,” he acquiesced. Jo’s brows furrowed.

“She made a whole ionic membrane in 10 minutes?” she asked, and Graham shook his head.

“Nah,” he scoffed, waving his hand. “She just fixed one, the hotel already had one,” Jo’s brows furrowed further.

“Why would a hotel need an ionic membrane?” she muttered, less asking Graham and more thinking out loud.

“Probably to keep those things out!” he said, but Jo shook her head.

“Well yes, but what  _ are _ those things?” she continued. “Why are they in this oasis? It doesn’t make sense…” she looked around, squinting to shield her eyes from the sun as they exited the door of the main building and saw the beach. “Where are we?” she muttered to herself. She saw the Doctor a little bit ahead, standing with a military-type woman. “Who’s that?” she asked Graham, and he scowled.

“Kane,” he answered. “She’s got this security linen cupboard-”

“Security linen cupboard?” Jo cut him off, and Graham rolled his eyes.

“Let me finish, ey?” he grouched, and Jo shrugged, giving him an apologetic smile and motioning with her hands for him to continue. “A room that says it’s a linen cupboard but it’s got the ionic mainframe-”

“Membrane,”

“Whatever! And a couple of guns and a  _ major _ CCTV set-up!” Jo nodded in thanks for the explanation as they approached the Doctor and Kane.

“-locals, Dregs,” Kane was explaining the creatures to the Doctor. “They're always trying to attack, that's why we have shields. But the virus that took the shields down, the Dregs couldn't have done that. Somebody hacked the system,”

“Who’d sabotage the hotel?” Ryan asked. Jo shrugged. 

Kane’s eyes narrowed as she looked at a piece of rubble. She held her hand up to her ear, activating a comm.

“Vorm, void panel SE9-13,” she demanded, and everyone except Kane jumped when a panel of grey wall appeared in front of them, cutting off the scenic landscape. On the side there are pieces of bent metal and debris hanging from it, and Jo could see the blue of the ionic membrane through the wall. Graham peered at the panel, before going to try and walk around it and see from the other side.

_ BONK! _

Graham recoiled when he walked straight into something else, and rubbed his head with a wince.

“What is happening right now?” Ryan asked, looking between Graham and the Doctor. Jo walked up next to Graham and knocked on where he hit his head, a ripple effect going through the scene like one does when you press down too hard on a computer screen.

“Right on my nut,” Graham groaned, his hand still rubbing at his head. “Am I having a stroke?” he asked, and Jo shook her head.

“No, you’re fine, Graham,” she assured him, squinting at the scene in front of her. “But if these are screens displaying a beautiful oasis, what’s actually on the other side?” she asked, and the Doctor looked at her, surprise coloring her features.

“It’s a FAKEcation!” she exclaimed, giving Jo a quick pat on the arm. “Aren’t you quick?” Jo scowled. “A really well set-up, really expensive,  _ fake _ cation!”

“Wait, so none of this is real?” Ryan asked, his face scrunched up in confusion, and the Doctor shrugged.

“The pool is, the hotel is, but you reach a certain point-” the Doctor reached out and knocked on the barrier for emphasis. “They’re usually built in cities, so no one has to travel-” the Doctor began, and Kane cut her off, a prideful tone in her voice.

“Our guests now get off world holiday at a fraction of the price,” she said, a hint of a smile on her face, before it quickly dropped and her-what Jo was assuming normal-scowl was back.

“If they survive,” Yaz piped up, and Jo jumped, turning to the cop with a smile.

“Yaz!” she cheered in greeting, and Yaz sent her a small smile, cradling a tablet in her hands.

“Hey, Jo, glad you’re okay,” Ryan made an offended noise. “You too, I guess, Ryan,” that didn’t help any. Ryan just rolled his eyes. The Doctor turned to Kane.

“You built this somewhere you shouldn't have, thinking no-one would know if they could only get in and out by teleport. I heard your little chat about o2 levels,” Kane had the gall to look ashamed. Ashamed of her scheme being found out, though Jo was almost positive that she held no shame in regards to her actual scheme. “That's a completely different environment out there. And the native species want you and your guests dead,” the Doctor said, and Yaz piped up, holding out the tablet for the Doctor to look at.

“Doctor, you need to see this,” she said. “There's a wall all around this hotel! Vilma says it's the first off world ‘fakecation’,” Graham sniggered.

“Yeah, we got that bit, feel the lump on my head!” he leaned forward, pointing to where his head had bumped into the wall. Jo rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be so dramatic, there’s no lump!” she said, and Graham sent her a scowl.

“My Benni’s gone missing!” an elderly woman spoke, her face the picture of worry as she stood next to Yaz and looked between the Doctor and Kane. Yaz held out the tablet again, this time there was a map of the hotel, with red dots lighting up the display in various locations and names next to each dot. Yaz pinched her fingers, zooming out until-

“According to this, he’s outside the shields,” Yaz said, showing them a blinking red dot a ways outside the dome. Kane scowled.

“You can’t just walk outside, there’s not enough oxygen,” she said Vilma’s pleading look, the woman hanging onto Yaz’s arm tightly. “He’d be dead before we get to him,”

“He’s got an oxygen tank!” Vilma said, her voice strong for how frail and exhausted she looked. “We’ve got to find him!” The Doctor turned to Kane, a hard look in her eye.

“He came here because of you. If there's even the slightest chance of finding him, you need to do it,” Kane held her grown, scowling up at the Doctor. “We'll help. Get some transport, and we'll gather everyone in the bar,” the Doctor began to walk off, Jo nodding and motioning for the others to start getting everyone together. Kane stayed right where she had been, still scowling and avoiding looking at anyone. “Now, Kane!” the Doctor called, and Kane grimaced before following.


End file.
